Nagpur: Registration of flats across Nagpur has been suspended until further orders as district administration begins a comprehensive verification of whether builders complied with mandatory infrastructure and safety requirements before obtaining occupancy certificates (OCs). The decision was taken by guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule during a District Planning Committee (DPC) meeting on Monday, where several key urban governance decisions were announced.In another significant policy shift, Bawankule announced the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will henceforth approve building plans in layouts developed by the erstwhile Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), bringing building permissions under a single planning authority for the first time.Directing the district sub-registrar to halt registration of flats until further orders, he instructed NMC to submit a detailed report within seven days on whether residential projects have complied with mandatory infrastructure norms before obtaining occupancy certificates.The move follows concerns raised by MLAs and civic representatives that several apartment complexes received occupancy certificates despite lacking basic infrastructure such as sewerage and drainage networks, firefighting systems and other mandatory civic amenities. Officials said such deficiencies have increased pressure on public infrastructure and civic services in several localities.Questioning how occupancy certificates were issued despite incomplete compliance with prescribed govt norms, Bawankule ordered a detailed inquiry into the approval process. He said flat registrations would remain suspended until the govt is satisfied that developers have fulfilled all statutory conditions prescribed under building regulations.The transfer of building plan approval powers from NIT to NMC is also being seen as another step towards streamlining the city’s development approval process by eliminating overlapping jurisdictions. Until now, layouts under NIT continued to follow a separate approval mechanism even as civic infrastructure in those areas was maintained largely by NMC.The decision has again brought the future of the nearly century-old Nagpur Improvement Trust into focus. Elected representatives across party lines have repeatedly demanded that NIT be dissolved, arguing that several layouts developed by the planning agency lack proper roads, drainage, sewerage and other civic amenities, with the responsibility for maintaining them ultimately falling on NMC.During the winter session of the state legislature in Dec 2024, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had stated that the long-pending proposal to dissolve NIT was under active consideration.
