Chennai: The Madras High Court’s ban on registration of unapproved properties was today extended till 27 February. The government has been given time till that period to come out with regulations for plots and buildings that don’t have approval. The date was extended following a request by the State Government lawyer asking for more time.

Though the petitioners, comprising mostly real estate developers, argued about the plight of the common people because of this ban, the Judge who heard the case today, said, “Only the government can take this issue forward.

Unless and until they find a solution, the High Court cannot proceed further. Only after they take some stringent measures, the Court will decide its judgement on this issue.”

The High Court’s interim order on 9 September, 2016 banned registration of plots and houses in unapproved housing layouts as well as conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, when the case came up for hearing, the State Government responded that it had made necessary arrangements to regulate the registration of unapproved housing layouts. But advocate Elephant G Rajendran in a new petition alleged that 26.42 lakh acres agricultural lands have been converted into housing plots in the last 14 years.

“Only after a plot gets basic necessities like electricity can it be approved. But as of now, there are over 13.28 lakh unapproved housing layouts in the State. The government will incur an expenditure of about Rs. 17,000 crore to regulate their registrations. I just want them to reveal the ways in which they are going procure such a hefty fund,” Rajendran added.

In his petition, he also backed the 2008 government order to stop regulating the registration of unapproved plots after 2008. First bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan delivered the 9 September order based on the public interest litigation petition filed by Rajendran. Delivering the order, they said, “We direct that no registering authority in the State shall register any sale deed in respect of any plot in unauthorised layout or any flat/ building constructed on such plots. This order is necessary to save the ecology and prevent flooding while simultaneously giving time to the State Government to come up with legislative changes.”

“We direct the Inspector General of Registration to circulate the order to all registering authorities, sub-registrars in the State. We also express our concerns over the absence of any provision for regulating conversion of agricultural lands that were uncultivated for more than three years,” the judgement added.