‘New transfer rules for housing societies to benefit millions’

MUMBAI - A major problem faced by nearly 100,000 housing societies in getting the land and buildings tranfered to their names has been resolved and will benefit millions of Mumbaikars, a top official said here Sunday.

Addressing members of Sanskruti Housing Complex in Kandivli in northwest Mumbai with over 40 housing societies, North Mumbai Lok Sabha member Sanjay Nirupam said the issue of what is called a deemed conveyance certificate had been hanging fire since several decades with the builders’ lobby refusing to transfer the land in favour of the housing societies.

“Through the good offices of the former chief minister Ashok Chavan, an amendment has been made in the relevant laws which will make the process of conveyance much easier and benefit nearly one lakh housing societies all over Mumbai,” Nirupam said.

As per the amendment, four months after the building is constructed, the society can directly apply to the concerned government department for the deemed conveyance certificate, he explained.

This would also prove to be a boon to thousands of societies which are in a dilapidated condition but are not touched by re-developers since they did not have the crucial conveyance certificate from the original builders, and also for societies wanting to take up other expansion or growth plans.

Nirupam said he had taken up the critical issue as part of his election manifesto for North Mumbai, but the relevant changes in the law has now provided the benefit to housing societies all over Mumbai and in neighbouring areas, which are governed by similar laws.

He said that during the campaign, he was shocked to learn that more than 80 percent of the housing societies in the city, with several millions of middle-class population living there, did not have the transfer certificate for decades, hampering their growth and development prospects.