A multi-storeyed building at Kharavela Nagar in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 13: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Council’s rules about real estate developers procuring no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the civic body are not being followed.

Officials responsible for issuing the certificate within the stipulated one-month period are allegedly sitting on the files, thereby paving the way for builders to get the NOC, as NOC applications are “deemed to be approved if the application lies with the certifying authority for more than one month’’.

Fees towards NOCs given by the real estate developers are supposed to be used as peripheral development charges — to be used for the development of the area in which the developer plans to construct the building. Builders are supposed to pay two per cent of the project cost to obtain NOC. Many a time, the builders do not apply for the NOC at all. If the rules are followed strictly, a real estate developer can only get a building approval from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) after receiving an NOC from BMC.

Sources at BDA said more than 100 such building plan approvals had been taken from BDA without any approval from BMC, and the authorities at BDA are planning to take this up against the developers.

Not following the NOC norms, councillors feel, is an insult to the highest decision making body of the municipal corporation, as the 60 councillors in the past had taken the decision to grant NOCs following various norms.

“In 2009, the BMC Council took a decision that real estate development on leased land or land converted to freehold from leased could only be done after taking permission from the local councillor. Not only that, last year the Council took a decision that the BMC authorities would display boards in front of buildings saying that buyers would be buying the property at their own risk. However, so far no real estate builder has consulted a councillor nor have BMC officials hung notices warning against NOC violation near housing complexes,’’ said Padmanabh Dash, councillor of ward No. 37.

Saying that disregarding the NOC norms is a direct insult to the Council’s democratic proceedings, Dash added both the BMC and BDA authorities should strictly adhere to the plan approval norms, keeping in mind cases of flooding on the city outskirts during the flood in the Mahanadi river system in the first week of September.

“NOC should be issued after surveying and inspecting the building site and making sure it follows drainage, sewerage and road communication parameters. The certification cell at BMC should also be equipped and staffed to handle this,’’ he added.

Councillor of ward No. 49 Amaresh Jena said NOC applications filed in July are still pending at the BMC office.

“There two other such projects in my ward which should pay around Rs 49 lakh to the BMC for peripheral development charges. But as the applications are now deemed to be approved, the loss to the civic body due to the inordinate delay should be probed and the people responsible should be served notices,’’ he added.