The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a Standard Operating Procedure for an amnesty scheme that will allow buildings without an Occupancy Certificate (OC) to seek formal recognition. The measure is aimed at relieving thousands of residents in structures occupied before 17 November 2016 and will take effect from the date the circular was published. The scheme covers eligible residential blocks, hospitals and schools where approvals were obtained but an OC was not granted due to procedural lapses or developer non-compliance.

To qualify, residential buildings must produce an Intimation of Disapproval, an approved plan and a Commencement Certificate from the BMC and establish occupation before 17 November 2016. Individual units will be eligible only if the carpet area does not exceed 80 square metres. A building will be treated as residential where more than 50 per cent of its use is residential and shops or offices located in such blocks may apply but will not receive financial concessions.

Registered cooperative housing societies and individual flat owners can apply for a partial OC and may proceed where the original developer has not sought certification, subject to a no objection certificate from the developer or the issuance of a notice under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. The SOP provides a 50 per cent concession on regularisation charges and on premium for additional and fungible compensatory floor space index in specified cases.

The SOP allows conversion of features not counted in floor space index without penalty if applications are submitted within the first six months, while those lodged between six months and one year will attract a 50 per cent discount after which no concession will apply. Where architects or documents are unavailable a new architect or licensed surveyor may certify executed work and the BMC may grant an OC on an as-is-where-is basis subject to a registered undertaking and an indemnity bond. The SOP permits rehabilitation wings to be delinked from sale components so they can receive OCs independently and states that unauthorised construction will not be legitimised.