The Municipal Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta, said the corporation cannot deny such developers the occupation certificate or permission for water supply. He also said that the buyers facing such discrimination should go to police.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has put its hand up when it comes to stopping the developers from selling flats on the basis of dietary habits of buyers.
The Municipal Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta, said the corporation cannot deny such developers the occupation certificate or permission for water supply. He also said that the buyers facing such discrimination should go to police.
Mehta, in his written reply to the Improvements Committee of the BMC, has said that the civic body can dictate the terms and conditions over development control regulations (DCRs) but cannot force the private builders developing residential complexes on private land to sell the flats to particular persons.
The controversial issue of a few developers allegedly refusing to sell their flats to non-vegetarians has been a topic of debate for the past few years.
In November 2014, Sandeep Deshpande, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader in the BMC, had raised the issue through a notice of motion. Many political parties have been demanding that the civic body, which decides on the development control regulations should take the issue seriously and act against such developers so that even non-vegetarians get a fair chance of buying property in the buildings and locality of their choice.
All the members across party lines, except the Bharatiya Janata Party, had demanded that the civic body ensure that the DCRs are framed in such a way that the developers cannot choose buyers on the basis of caste, creed, religion or dietary habits. Corporators had demanded that the civic body should amend the rules and send it to the state government for its opinion.
However, Mehta in his reply made it clear that the subject of dictating the developer, not to sell his flat to the buyers on the basis of their dietary habits does not come under the purview of BMC. "These projects are developed on the private land. We can keep check on technical details of whether the developer is following all the rules and regulations as per the DCR 1991 and those under MRTP Act 1966 and MMC Act 1888 or not. We cannot go beyond the rulebook as the subject does not come under our jurisdiction, thus cannot take action against the builder and developer. The issue is related to law and order and the same can be addressed by the Mumbai Police."
"Those affected by such experience should approach police and register their complaints and also approach related departments of the state government for the action. Though the members have demanded the amendments in the DCRs and the Acts, the same cannot be amended," states the reply.
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