The Tamil Nadu State Government is having a new reform on cards for the aspiring home buyers. This Southern state passed a bill for introducing the Land pooling Policy in order to make the property purchase a budget-friendly affair as the acquisition of private land has become hugely expensive especially after the implementation of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The Land Pooling Policy will be framed as Area Development Scheme for both housing and infrastructure projects. The landowners will be the stakeholders in the new endowment in the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act under which the partial piece of landowners’ land will be developed and returned respectively.
O Panneerselvam, the Deputy Chief Minister, introduced the bill as he holds the Housing and Urban Development portfolio also. He stated that the land pooling or land readjustment is a practice to make the landowners one of the partners in the developmental process. The Deputy CM also said that the Land Pooling Policy is likely to be an option for the lengthy and tedious land acquisition procedure.
Being a progressive state, Tamil Nadu felt the need of developing both, housing and infrastructure. The Minister for Housing and Urban Development said that the Land Pooling Policy is a smart way to develop the state in both the economic and social sector while sharing the advantages of the development process with the landowners. He further added that the State Government has decided to amend the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 while considering all the above-mentioned factors.
Although, the CMDA [Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority] will be kept out of this policy but the Directorate of Town and Country Planning is free to adopt the policy proposed by the PSUs [Public Sector Undertaking] or statutory body working under the Centre/State Government or 70% of the landowners in a particular scheme.
The State Assembly passed another bill to offer statutory to the Transferable Development Rights that approves specific amount of additional built-up area in the lieu of the area surrendered by the landlord in urban areas for infrastructural development like new roads, widening of existing roads, traffic and transportation etc.