Mumbai: Despite owning several private plots, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) does not have its name on their property cards.
The civic body, after decades, has started the process of transferring property cards in its name, fearing legal wrangles. But it has only managed to have its name on 590 properties while about 1,700 are still to be done. Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has directed the estate department to complete the process soon.
The erstwhile Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) owned large tracts of land in the city before it was dissolved into the BMC. Thus, all BIT land came to be vested with the civic body and much of it was leased eventually to offices, establishments. Similarly, many private plots that the BMC acquired over the years as part of the development plan implementation or for seizure action have not been transferred in the civic body’s name yet.
Of the 4,788 plots with the BMC, it had relevant documents in the case of 2,377, but did not have its name on the cards. After initiating the process around six months ago, the BMC has managed to get its name on 590 cards while the process of remaining 1,787 is under way with the help of the land records department.
In 2017, during the DP implementation, civic officers realised that most cards have not been updated. This could create problems, particularly during rehabilitation. Therefore, Mr. Mehta directed the estate department to initiate the process of transferring these records in the civic body’s name.
Parag Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner (estate), said, “Although the BMC is the land owner in these cases, it can lead to dispute or litigation in the future, especially, in cases of redevelopment. Therefore, as a preventive measure, the civic body decided to take up this exercise.”
The BMC has also made it mandatory to keep its name on the property card wherever redevelopment projects are being taken up on leased land. The civic body has leased out many of these plots for as long as 999 years.