Sale deed pending for 143 settlement sites across Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Even though it has been several years, the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) is yet to issue sale deeds for people in 143 settlements across the State due to the delay in land alienation process.

Out of the 399 settlements in Chennai, land alienation has been completed in 322 settlements and the process is pending for 77 settlements in the city, including those in Egmore and Perambur among other regions.

As per TNUHDB official data, 726 settlements were developed in 13 districts, of which, land alienation was completed for 583 settlements. Due to delay in land alienation procedures, the land deed is pending for 143 settlements under Madras Urban Development Project (MUDP) and Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP) throughout the state.

Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) has requested a specific sale deed/land title cell to be formed in TNUHDB to expedite the process of issuing sale deed. “The formation of such a cell is imperative because other than issuing sale deeds, it enables the coordination between departments for ‘transfer of patta’ after giving sale deed for schemes like MUPD/TNUDP, and the other land and tenement schemes across TN,” she said.

Additionally, IRCDUC has also requested the State government to form a district-level task force to be set up to oversee the progress in issuance of the sale deed and transfer of patta, and also to make announcements regarding these demands in the upcoming budget scheduled on March 14. Though TNUDP is conducting sale deed camps in 57 places in Chennai, stakeholders request to simplify the process by making the process of payment and submission of legal documents transparent and publicly accessible.

Requesting relevant documents and updates to be made available in local languages and placing them for periodic public reviews, Vanessa added, “There are sale deed camps underway. However, there is still a lack of awareness among the public about it due to lack of advertising by the department. Besides social media platforms, the awareness of camps needs to be done through local channels.”

Some of the request/demands of IRCDUC to the government are:

• To waive penalty amount and interest to be paid by beneficiaries in the MUDP/TNUDP schemes as a compensation for the inordinate delay in issuance of sale deed.

• Financial incentives can encourage more people to apply for sale deeds.

• Currently, ‘darkhast’ patta with conditions are transferred to the beneficiaries of TNUDP/MUDP schemes. Patta transfers should be without any conditions, free of any encumbrances and any pending litigations.

• Have a special housing scheme for survivors of domestic violence who are on the brink of homelessness.

• Reserve housing for persons with disabilities (ensuring accessible environment) and trans persons in all the existing programmes inside the cities.

• Accessibility audit and gender audit should be facilitated. All new housing designs should be approved only after completion of accessibility and gender responsive assessment.

• Implement a comprehensive policy on urban homeless to facilitate interdepartmental coordination. Currently, TN has a policy only to address mental health issues of persons in homeless situations.

· To introduce Tamil Nadu Urban Employment Scheme in all the resettlement sites in and around Chennai

· To announce a scheme for sustaining the shelters for the urban homeless across Tamil Nadu operational under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana (DAY-NULM)

Speaking to DT Next, Anshul Mishra, managing director, TNUHDB said, “There are several challenges in issuing the sale deed, but we’ve set up sale deed camps in Chennai. Other district camps will begin by the end of February. Some of the challenges faced in issuing the sale deed are the original allottees sell the land to a third party, eventually making him/her ineligible for receiving the sale deed and pending dues.