JAMMU, July 27: Hundreds of people who have invested in lands and properties within the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) limits are dismayed by a recent notice from the Corporation requiring layout approval for developments with more than four plots.
The notice, issued on May 20, 2024, by the Jammu Municipal Commissioner, prevents the investors from constructing on lands without approval of the JMC. With the strict enforcement of the notice, the aggrieved investors are also not in a position to sell the purchased properties since the Corporation now deems them unauthorized.
The JMC’s notice cites the J&K Municipal Corporation Act 2000 and Uniform Building By Laws 2021, stating that any settlement with more than four plots would be classified as a colony and the colony must have an approved layout, including provisions for road width, open space, parks and proper drainage.
“As per the J&K Real Estate (Regulation and Development Act) 2016, projects with more than 500 square meters or over eight apartments must also be registered with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to protect consumers’ interests,” the notice further read.
Through the notice, the JMC advised the public to verify the status of any property before investing, ensuring it has an approved layout from JMC and RERA registration. Developers were also instructed to display JMC-approved layouts and RERA registration numbers at project sites and in advertisements.
The notice warned that unauthorized colonies or real estate projects violating the regulations would face legal action, including potential demolition. It urged the public to avoid investing in unapproved properties.
But the investors who have purchased the properties prior to the notification argued that they should still be granted building permissions as they contended that the layout approval should be the responsibility of the property seller, who owns more than four plots, and not the individual buyers.
Most sellers, according to them, are either unreachable or unwilling to pay the fees to the Corporation to register their developments as colonies, leaving them (buyers) in a difficult position.
An investor on condition of anonymity criticized the new rules, saying they unfairly burden buyers.
“Given the unwillingness of the sellers to register the properties as colonies, the buyers are neither in a position to raise construction over their properties nor sell them since they are deemed unauthorized by the JMC,” he said, while requesting the JMC to review its notice.
He demanded that people who have purchased the properties prior to issuance of the fresh notification by the JMC must be benefited retrospectively as according to him, despite the existing rules, people were getting layout approvals from the JMC before the fresh notification.
“This was the reason,” he said, “we invested in the properties. As such, the JMC should give us the building permissions.”
An architect also reported a significant drop in business since the notification, as according to him, hardly anyone is applying for regularization of properties as colonies.
“This notice has caused panic among small land and property buyers,” the architect said.
“It’s unjust to expect individual buyers to register entire plots as colonies, especially when sellers are uncooperative. The JMC should reconsider its approach to avoid penalizing innocent buyers.”
JMC Commissioner, Rahul Yadav, however, claimed that he is not going to provide any relief to any category of investor who has purchased properties or raised constructions in violation of the Municipal laws as, according to him, the Corporation has only re-notified the existing J&K Municipal Corporation Act 2000 and Uniform Building By Laws 2021.
“The Municipal Corporation Act and Uniform Building By Laws existed already. I have only re-notified and enforced them strictly. There is no question of providing any relief to any category of investors who have purchased or raised properties in contravention to the law,” Yadav said.
Asked how the Corporation was providing the building permissions prior to the fresh notification when the Act and laws existed, he said, “I am not accountable for what has happened earlier. I am only answerable for whatever I have done and I have only enforced the existing laws strictly.”
