The Coimbatore city corporation has delegated the power of providing building and planning permission for buildings up to 2,000 square feet within its limit to the zonal assistant commissioners (ACs).
In a letter dated July 31, corporation commissioner J Sravan Kumar has said that he has empowered the zonal assistant commissioners with the power to grant the permission for the buildings constructed in 2,000 square feet of land.
He, further, bestowed the duty of monitoring the submission of building planning applications, payment of fees among others to the zonal assistant town planning officers (ATPOs).
The zonal office was, also, given powers to initiate necessary action against the unauthorized buildings and the buildings that were built with deviation of rules.
Until recently, all the powers lay in the hands of the corporation commissioner and the order means that public need not visit the corporation main office at Town Hall for any building related works if the building does not exceed 2,000 square feet.
While those seeking permission to construct residential buildings between 2,000 and 7,000 square feet still have to approach the main office, those seeking permission to construct commercial buildings above 2,000 sq ft and residential buildings above 7,000 sq ft have to approach the Local Planning Authority (LPA).
Earlier, the public will have to submit the hardcopy of the related documents including land patta, survey document and building plan at the zonal office even though they had uploaded it online. Post which, ATPOs would do field inspection to make sure that the building could be constructed at the available land without any violation. Post which, they would make recommendations to the Town Planning Officer (TPO), who in turn would scrutinize the documents before recommending it to the commissioner for approval.
“Now, the ATPOs will be recommending it to the ACs and he, in turn, would grant permissions. It would save a lot of time both to the officials and public,” said a source privy to the development. Even though the norm says that the approval should be given within 30 days, at times, it would take to 2 to 3 months considering the overload of pending files.
Welcoming the move, a city-based activist K Kathirmathiyon said that the move would not just reduce the work burden of the officials but also would help the public in getting the approval on time.
Citing the Tamil Nadu combined development and building rules 2019, he said, “The official who is granting plan approval is the competent authority to issue building completion certificates. So, in this case, the zonal ACs themselves could issue the complete certificates.”