The Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC)
entrusted with the task of making user of the available land as per the
requirements and need felt by the citizens if required to make optimum
utilization of the scarce available land. For implementation of this task under
overall development plan the plots are demarcated according to varying land use
and for various public utilities under the various plan of the BMC says Adv. R. P. Rathod. He adds that the Government
publishes the priority list every year on the basis of which they demarcate
lands/ plots in different categories.
The BMC had to face great difficulties in
implementing its target of using the plot for the purpose for which it is
demarcated and meant. Thus in order to
overcome the difficulties faced by the BMC the concept of TDR (Transferable Development Rights)
was introduced. This concept was first mooted in the Development Control Rules of 1991 says Adv. R. P.
Rathod. He adds that it allows a property
owner the right to construct an additional 40 percent floor area over and above
the permissible limits under the existing FSI (Floor Space Area).
The owner (or lessee) of a plot of land
which is reserved for a public purpose in the development plan and for
additional amenities deemed to be reservation provided in accordance with these
Regulations, excepting in the case of an existing or retention user or to any
required compulsory or recreational open space, shall be eligible for the award
of Transferable Development Rights
(TDRs) in the form of Floor Space
Index (FSI). Such award will entitle the owner of the land to
FSI in the form of a Development
Right Certificate (DRC) which he may use himself or transfer to
any other person.
It gives the owner/lessee the right to
transfer excess development potential from an ‘Originating Plot’
(which can be in the island city or the suburbs) to a ‘Receivable Plot’
(which is only in the suburbs and always north of the originating plot).
Originating Plots are those which fall under reservations like recreation grounds, playgrounds, schools, markets and roads in the development plan and are handed over to the BMC free of cost, in lieu of which FSI in the form of TDR, is granted and allowed to be used on the receivable plots. The FSI allowed is 0.4 against reservation and 0.4 against roads.
In short, TDR is a form of FSI which entitles
a land owner to construct additional building on his land. Under TDR, reserved
plots are surrendered to BMC for
development. Further TDR can be availed only where the individual or corporate
entity has a vacant plot of its own says Adv. R. P.
Rathod.
The main requisites for obtaining TDR are
identifying the land under reservation and the land should be in the receiving
zones. Acquisition of the particular land by obtaining Development Right Certificate
(DRC). Until the court ruling last year the FSI could not exceed 0.4 on a
receivable plot, however there was a court ruling that 0.8 FSI could be allowed
(clubbing road and reservation TDR) on the same plot adds Adv. R. P.
Rathod.
In a city like Mumbai, where space shortage
is a major problem the concept of TDR is very much welcomed by the Builders,
Developers and Landlords. The owner (or lessee) of a plot of land which is
reserved for a public purpose in the development plan and for additional
amenities deemed to be reservations provided in accordance with these
Regulations, excepting in the case of an existing or retention user or to any
required compulsory or recreational open space, shall be eligible for the award
of Transferable Development Rights
(TDRs) in the form of Floor Space Index
(FSI) to the extent and on the conditions set out below. Such award will
entitle the owner of the land to FSI in the form of Development Right Certificate
(DRC) which he may use himself or transfer to any other person says Adv. R. P.
Rathod.
Further he explains that the Subject to the
Regulation 1 above, where a plot of land is reserved for any purpose specified
in Section 22 of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning
Act, 1966 the owner will be eligible for Development
Right (DRs) to the extent stipulated in Regulations 5 and 6 in this
Appendix had the land been not so reserved, after the said land is surrendered
free of cost as stipulated in Regulation 5 in this
Appendix, and after completion of the development or construction as in
Regulation in this Appendix if he undertakes the same.
Development
Rights (DRs) will be
granted to an owner or a lessee only for reserved lands which are retainable/ non-retainable
under the Urban Land
(Ceiling and Regulations) Act, 1976, and in respect of all other
reserved lands to which the provisions of the aforesaid Act do not apply and on
production of a certificate to this effect
from the Competent Authority under that Act
before a Development Right is
granted. In the case of non-retainable lands, the grant of Development Rights
shall be to such extent and subject to such conditions as Government
may specify. Development
rights (DRs) are available only in cases where Development of a
reservation has not been implemented i.e. TDRs will be available only for
prospective development of reservations says Adv. R. P.
Rathod.
Development
Rights Certificates (DRCs) will be issued by the Commissioner
himself. They will state, in figures and in
words, the FSI credit in square meters of the built-up area to which the owner
or lessee of the said reserved plot is mentioned, the place and user zone in
which the DRs are earned and the areas in which such credit may be utilised.
The built up area for the purpose of FSI
credit in the form of a DRC shall be equal to the
gross area of the reserved plot to the permissible FSI
of the zone where from the TDR has originated.
When an owner or lessee also develops or
constructs the amenity on the surrendered plot at his cost subject to such
stipulations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner or the Appropriate
Authority as the case may be and to their satisfaction and hands
over the said developed/constructed amenity to the Commissioner/ Appropriate
Authority, free of cost, he may be granted by the Commissioner, a further DR in
the form of FSI
equivalent to the area of the construction/ development done by him,
utilization of which etc. will be subject to the Regulations contained in this
Appendix.
A DRC will be issued only on
the satisfactory compliance with the conditions. If a holder of a DRC intends
to transfer it to any other person, he will submit the DRC to the Commissioner
with an appropriate application for an endorsement
of the new holder’s name i.e. transferee on the said certificate. Without such
an endorsement
by the Commissioner himself, the transfer shall not be valid and the certificate
will be available for use only by the earlier original holder.
A holder of a DRC who desires to use the
FSI credit certified therein on a particular plot of land shall attach to his
application for development permission valid DRCs to the extent required.
Irrespective of location of the land in
which they originate, DRCs shall not
be used in the Island city says Adv. R. P. Rathod.
But instead they may be used;
a) On any plot in
the same ward as that in which they have originated (neither ward being in the
Island city), or
b) On any plot
lying to the north (wholly or partially) of the plot in which they have
originated (but not in the Island city).
a) Between the
tracks of the Western Railway and the Swami Vivekanand Road;
b)
Between the
tracks of the Western Railway and Western Express Highway.
c) Between the
tracks of the Central Railway (Main Line) and Lal Bahadur Shastri Road;
d) On plots
falling within 50 meters on roads on which no new shops are permitted as
specified in Sub-regulation (2) of Regulation 52.
e)
Coastal areas
and areas in No Development Zones, Tourism Development Zones, and areas for
which the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority or Maharashtra
Housing and Area Development Authority is the Special Planning Authority.
f)
On plots for
housing schemes of slum dwellers for which additional FSI is permissible under
Sub-regulation (10) of Regulation 33;
g)
Areas where the
permissible FSI is less than 1.0.
DRCs may be used on one or more plots of
land whether vacant or already developed or by the
erection of additional storey or in any other manner consistent with these Regulations,
but not so as to exceed in any plot total Built up FSI higher than that
prescribed in Regulation 14 in this Appendix.
The FSI of a receiving plot
shall be allowed to be exceeded by not more than 0.4 in respect of a DR
available in respect of the reserved plot as in this Appendix and up to a
further 0.4 in respect of a DR available in respect of land surrendered
for road-widening or construction of new roads according to Sub-regulations (1)
of Regulation 33.
DRs will be granted and DRCs issued only
after the reserved land is surrendered to the Corporation, where it is
Appropriate Authority, otherwise to the State Government as the
case may be, free of cost and free of encumbrances, after the owner or lessee
has leveled the land to the surrendering ground level and after he has
constructed a 1.5 meters high compound wall (or at a height stipulated by the
Commissioner) with a gate at the cost of the owner, and to the satisfaction of
the Commissioner, or the State Government (where
the Corporation is not the appropriate authority). The cost of any transaction
involved shall be borne by the owner or lessee.
A DRC shall be issued by the Commissioner
himself as a certificate printed on bond paper in an
appropriate form prescribed by the Commissioner. Such a certificate will be
transferable as “Negotiable Instrument”
after due authentication by the
Commissioner. The Commissioner shall maintain a register in a form considered
appropriate by him of all transactions etc. relating to grant of utilization of
DRs.
He adds that the surrendered reserved land
for which a DRC is to be issued shall vest in the Corporation
or the State Government, if the
appropriate authority is other than the Corporation, and such land shall be transferred
in the City Survey Records in the
name of the Corporation or the State Government, as the case may be, and shall
vest absolutely in the Corporation or the State Government.
The surrendered land, so transferred to the
State Government
in respect of which the Corporation is not the appropriate authority, may, on
application, thereafter be allotted by the State
Government in favor of the concerned authority, which may be a State or Central
Government Department, authority or organization on
appropriate terms as may be decided by the State Government.
The Commissioner / Appropriate Authority
shall draw up in advance and make public from the time to time a phased annual
program (allowing a development) for utilization of TDRs
in the Form of DRs, prioritizing revised
(draft or sanctioned) development plan reservations to be allowed to be
surrendered and indicating the areas for their utilization on receiving plots.
Not with standing this, in urgent cases, the Commissioner/ Appropriate
Authority may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, grant DRs, as and when
considered appropriate and necessary.
Apart from the aforesaid regulations and
the BMC
insistence that light and ventilation, additional parking has to be duly
provided in TDR Projects says Adv. R. P.
Rathod.
However, the plights of the common citizens
who are faced with TDR problem are pathetic and needs serious considerations by
the concerned Government authorities concludes Adv. R. P. Rathod.
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