MBRRB falls miserably short of target

“The amendment suggests that in addition to the 2.5 FSI for rehabilitation of tenants, the builder or developer will get 50 per cent extra FSI over the rehabilitation requirement,” he said, but was quick to implore to the environmentalists and other activists not “tofile any writ petition in court which would delay the process.”

He was speaking at a seminar organised at the Y B Chavan Centre on `The problems relating to old and dilapidated buildings’. He later said that the board which faced a perennial fund crunch, has chalked a budget of RS 120 crore for 1998-99 and is planning to spend Rs 52 crore for reconstruction by December 1999 and Rs 38 crore on repairs and Rs 9 crore on building new transit camps.

The proposed finance will be raised by contributions of Rs 40 crore from repair cess from tenants, RS 40 crore as a matching grant from the State government, Rs 10 crore from BMC, Rs 10 crore from MHADA and the remaining Rs 20 crore by way of rental and service charges.

The seminar organised by the Y B Chavan Legal Aid and Advice Forum was aimed at educating the common man and covered other topics including `problem under the Bombay Stamp Act and Indian registration Act’, ` Urban Land (ceiling and regulation) Act 1976′ and `Problems under the MaharashtraCooperative Housing Societies Act and Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act’. K S Patil, chairman of Mumbai Housing Federation spoke on the importance of a housing society completing a conveyance deed with the builder.

“If the builder does not give conveyance to the housing society, any additional FSI or floating FSI will belong to the builder,” he informed. However a proposed private bill in its draft stage recommends a competent authority who can order the builder to hand over the building to the co-operative society.

Meanwhile, Mahabaleshwar Morje of the Flat Owners’ Association said that the Rent Act which is meant to give protection to the tenants actually mentions 15 grounds for eviction of a tenant. “Most of these are misused by the landlords and should be deleted,” he said. As a practicing advocate, he observed that of every 100 suits against tenants that he came across, almost 80 per cent were bogus.