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Occupancy certificate not needed for deemed conveyance in Maharashtra

According to state cooperation department officials in Maharashtra, a housing society does not need to possess an Occupancy Certificate (OC) to apply for and receive deemed conveyance. The officials cited a government resolution (GR) from 2018 that was created to speed up the process of deemed conveyance for societies in the state. The GR allows for both online and offline applications for deemed conveyance for societies without OC, but with a catch. The society must submit a self-declaration form that affirms that it will pay the necessary dues and obtain the OC from the local authority at a later date.

This was the case for the Sylvan Retreat society in Aundh, which waited for almost two decades before reaching out to the state cooperation department for the conveyance deed. After submitting the self-declaration form, the deed was issued to them by the Pune district deputy registrar in just five months. The society has now approached the civic body to obtain the OC and clear the required dues.

According to the officials, the lack of awareness about the GR is the reason why not many societies without OC have applied for deemed conveyance. The GR was issued on June 22, 2018. Nearly 70,000 old housing societies in the state do not have deemed conveyance and most of them do not have OC. However, chairman Mangala Ransing of the 22-year-old Yashojay Society in the Bhosalenagar area was able to benefit from the GR provisions and received deemed conveyance two months ago. She said that if the local authority simplifies the process, it will help many other societies in a similar situation. Despite this, many members of old housing societies are still unaware of this provision. One member said that even after making repeated rounds to the registrar's office, nobody informed them about it.

According to the district deputy registrar of Pune city, Sanjay Raut, many societies with OC are applying for deemed conveyance after submitting a self-declaration form. Assistant registrar Navnath Anpath Bhosale said that 60-70% of the applications received are without OC documents. He also admitted that there is poor awareness about the 2018 GR. The local authorities check the building plan and collect charges for road development or water line when issuing OC to the societies that receive deemed conveyance. In an effort to create more awareness about the 2018 GR, the state housing federation plans to carry out a special drive, according to Suhas Patwardhan, vice-chairman of the federation.

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