The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to issue, de-occupation notices to the owners of 216 flats in an apartment complex at Anna Nagar Extension, within a week.
This comes two months after CMDA served lock-and-seal notices to unauthorised constructions at the apartment complex. The owners will be given a maximum of ten days to vacate the deviated portions, after which demolition would start, sources said.
It is probably for the first time that such a large number of de-occupation notices have been served against unauthorised constructions within a residential apartment complex in the city. The de-occupation notice is issued prior to the demolition of the unauthorised construction. Some occupants, however, have approached the planning authority with representation seeking relief.
The largescale flouting of construction norms at the residential complex in Jeevan Bheema Nagar at Anna Nagar West Extension came to light following a litigation by Life Insurance Corporation of India in 2011, official sources from the CMDA said. While approval was given for a group development comprising 800 dwelling units spread over 50 blocks in 1994, deviations proliferated in 28 blocks, with additional constructions added illegally. Each block has 16 units on the ground.
CMDA sources said the violations largely pertained to an extra room added to the units by taking over space ranging from 120 square feet to 150 square feet. Violations were found in the balcony area of a few units as well. Most units had unauthorised constructions on the ground floor.
CMDA member secretary Anshul Mishra said site inspection was carried out by the planning authority in October and 216 flats were found to have been constructed deviating from the approval granted by CMDA. “So, locking, sealing, and demolition notices were issued on November 2, 2021, to the 216 flat owners,” he said.
