Legal seal on premium for extra FSI

Express News Service September 26 The state government has legalised its decision to collect a premium in return for permission to builders for additional constructions,after two Bombay High Court judgments had left several such projects under a cloud. The government has issued an ordinance with retrospective effect from January 11,1967,when the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act came into effect. The MRTP (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance 2010,promulgated by the Governor last week,states the government can take “fees,charges and premium,at such rate as may be fixed by the state government or planning authority,from time to time,for grant of an additional FSI or for special permissions or for use of discretionary power under the relevant Development Control Regulations”. The amendment effectively legalises the government move to grant an extra 33 per cent FSI over and above the prevailing FSI of 1 in the suburbs. It also allows the BMC to let builders construct common spaces like staircases,lifts,lobbies without including it in the FSI computation. Additionally,it upholds the BMC’s discretionary rights to grant concessions in marginal open spaces. All these benefits had been challenged in two separate petitions in the High Court on the ground the MRTP Act does not have a provision for charging premium in return for these concessions. “We will use the premium for providing infrastructure. The amendment also specifies developers cannot challenge this decision in court or ask for a refund of their premium as these charges will ‘always be deemed to have been validly levied and collected’,” said a government official. The court had struck down the BMC’s practice of charging a premium for additional FSI and other concessions stating the Act doesn’t have any provision for this. SY Ghate,chief engineer-in-charge in the BMC’s Development Plan department,did not comment on the ordinance,saying the BMC is yet to get a copy. However,he said that since the High Court ruling in June,nearly 500 pending proposals have piled up at various building proposals departments as the BMC couldn’t allow developers any concessions. Last year itself,the BMC had collected about Rs 1,000 crore as premium for additional FSI and concessions in common areas and marginal spaces.