Kolkata: In a bid to ensure that people shift into their newly constructed homes after obtaining the completion certificate, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will be now issuing such a certificate online within 15 days of application.
During the monthly meeting on Saturday, KMC councillor, Rupak Ganguly raised an issue in the House where he alleged that in several cases people are moving into new houses without a completion certif-icate.
He asked how come in such cases promoters are being allowed to do mutation of the building and are also shifting people in.
Replying to the queries, Hakim said according to a section of the KMC Act, even if people move into a building without a completion certificate, KMC can collect taxes from them.
Hence, mutation can be done. He added: “But people should not be moving into new houses without a completion certificate since in such cases, due to the absence of such a certificate they may not be able to avail many utilities. The KMC building department needs to be more aware of such situations, especially in cases where the construction itself was illegal.”
Hakim highlighted that to make it easier for people to obtain completion certificates, KMC will now be issuing them online within 15 days of making an application.
He said: “Once the application is made online and the licensed building surveyor issues their certificate, the completion certificate will be made available with ease to the applicants.”
He said this has been made possible after such a provision was made in the KMC Amendment Act. The Bill was cleared by the Governor recently, and subsequently, the KMC’s department concerned made the notification.
He said this will remove all hassles of having to run to the civic body headquarters to obtain it.
Adding a caveat, he said the certificate will be made available within 15 days unless there are certain “deviations” such as if the building is illegal or certain necessary clearance is missing. Hakim added that the reason for rejection of the application will also be available online so the applicants can view it.
He also said that councillors need to play an active role in spreading awareness in their respective wards making people understand why they should not shift into their new homes without a completion certificate.