The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to amend its rules and make it mandatory for promoters to obtain completion certificate (CC) for new real estate developments before allowing mutation of flats.
The move is aimed at stopping unscrupulous realtors from leaving home-buyers stranded in developments without CC that is required to apply for water and drainage connections.
The development comes in the wake of complaints from several residents across the city that some promoters are being allowed to apply for mutation after the construction of flats without applying for the CC. This has landed the buyers in trouble as they can neither access potable water supplied by KMC or get a drainage connection to the building.
A KMC buildings department official said that in most cases, the promoters are averse to taking the certificate as applying for a CC will pave the way for an inspection of the project by the civic inspectors.
“A section of the real estate developers don’t apply for CC simply because they flout the building rules and don’t want to let the flat buyers know about the infringement. But once they start staying in the flats, we often feel sympathy for them because of their peril to get water supply and drainage connections after regularizing the illegal portions of the buildings,” said the official.
After the issue was raised by several Trinamool Congress councillors, the civic brass responded to the rising complaints and stressed on amending the rules preventing the KMC assessment department from issuing a mutation certificate before a CC is issued by the civic body’s buildings wing.
The Trinamool Congress councillor, Rupak Ganguli, has recently raised an alarm over the issue. Ganguli has alleged that a large number of flat owners in the neighbourhoods of Behala had been duped by some promoters who had fled without obtaining a CC. So, the residents faced problems in getting water and drainage connections.
The KMC buildings department official said that since the assessment wing has been collecting huge revenue by allowing the mutation of flats after the construction of housing complexes or apartment buildings, the civic body needs to strike a balance by asking the real estate developers to first apply for the CC, after which the flat owners should be allowed to apply for mutation certificates. A KMC assessment department official said that henceforth they would coordinate with the buildings department before sanctioning the mutation.