Mumbai: In 2009, the then municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak brought a system where all the building plans would be submitted on a compact disc and the approvals and concessions will be granted online. The approved plan then was to be shown on the civic body’s website for eth common people.

This was created to ensure the buyer that the property is legal and for transparency in the transaction also.

The process was introduced in the eastern part as very few difficult plans were received in this part. The date when the soft and the hard copy submitted to the authority, it was taken as a day of submission. The correction will be only made by the officials whom he has to inform to his senior. This system was to be followed up to top level.

The concession file was submitted only as a hard copy and all approvals, including concessions, were to be put up on the BMC website, every time a plan was revised, the version was to be put on it.

But not a single construction plan was uploaded in the website and the building proposal department ensured the system never got implemented.

The municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar tried to revive the system in his last day in office but failed due to political unwillingness. Despite obtaining loans for flats live in fear of demolition in future.

Many Engineers, Architects and Town Planners’ Association has for long been asking the civic body to upload all approved plans form time to time. A flat buyer can always ask the developer for approved plans and completion certificate before buying a flat. Often builders hesitate to give the approved plans and in the absence of the CTS number, a buyer cannot seek information from the civic body.