The Mumbai civic body’s newly approved Occupation Certificate (OC) amnesty scheme sounds, at first glance, like the sweeping intervention thousands of homeowners have been waiting for. With an estimated 25,000 residential buildings and nearly 12 lakh homeowners affected by the absence of an OC, the scheme could potentially unlock a long-standing problem that has complicated redevelopment, home loans and even basic civic documentation for families across Mumbai.
But there is a catch: how many of those 25,000 buildings will actually pass the eligibility filter? The answer could be considerably smaller than the headline number suggests.
The scheme comes with a tightly drawn set of conditions. For starters, a building must have been occupied on or before November 17, 2016, and must have a valid Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) and Commencement Certificate (CC). The amnesty is not a backdoor route for regularising illegal construction.
There is another limitation. Flats larger than 80 sq m, or roughly 861 sq ft, are excluded from the scheme’s benefits. The building must also be predominantly residential, while commercial units do not qualify for the financial benefits offered under the scheme.
According to experts, this is where the policy risks becoming a classic Mumbai paradox: a scheme designed for thousands of buildings may be accessible only to a small fraction of them.
Experts tracking the issue argue that many societies without an OC are in precisely that position because the original developer failed to complete documentation, obtain final approvals or resolve deviations. Requiring an NOC from the same developer could become a hurdle, particularly in older projects where the developer may no longer be traceable, may be unwilling to cooperate or may have disputes with the society.
The BMC’s OC amnesty scheme requires a housing society to have a valid Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) and Commencement Certificate (CC). However, the policy does not clearly spell out what happens to societies that lack these approvals. Experts say the policy provides no specific roadmap for how such societies can obtain or reconstruct the required IOD and CC documents before becoming eligible for an OC.
Then comes a potentially more complicated requirement: an NOC from the original construction applicant or holder of development rights may be required. In many cases, that could mean going back to the original developer, a hurdle that could prove difficult for older buildings where developers have changed, companies have shut down, or ownership and development rights are unclear.
That leaves Mumbai with a curious paradox. The OC amnesty scheme is designed to bring thousands of buildings into the formal civic framework. Yet the conditions attached to it could significantly narrow the pool of buildings that can actually benefit. For homeowners, therefore, the real question is no longer simply whether their building lacks an OC. It is whether their building fits the fine print of the amnesty.
Commercial premises present another grey area. A predominantly residential building can apply under the scheme, but commercial units within it will not receive the financial benefits. This creates another layer of complexity for mixed-use societies, which may find that the relief offered on paper does not necessarily translate into a straightforward path to regularisation, experts say.
The bigger question is how many buildings will ultimately qualify. The 12 lakh homeowners and nearly 25,000 buildings cited in media reports represent the potential universe of properties without OCs, not the number that will necessarily pass through the amnesty process and emerge with an Occupation Certificate.
That, however, does not take away from the scheme’s potential. It could offer a much-needed route to relief for genuine homebuyers who purchased their homes legally but have been caught in regulatory limbo due to failures by developers or architects, or shortcomings in earlier approval processes.
The concern is that too many filters could turn a potentially transformative policy into a narrow one, benefiting only a fraction of the buildings it was intended to help. For the BMC, therefore, the real test will not be the approval of the amnesty scheme. It will be measured by its implementation and, ultimately, by how many housing societies actually receive their OCs.
