Mumbai civic body’s software will send automated notices to dilapidated building residents

Currently, BMC officials draft separate notices for dilapidated buildings each time.

In order to streamline notices that are sent to Mumbai’s dilapidated buildings and reduce legal issues that arise from asking residents to vacate them, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is mulling over creating a software to serve automated notices.

The move is expected to leave less scope for tenants and residents to challenge the notices in court. (Representational photo)

Currently, BMC officials draft separate notices for dilapidated buildings each time. This leaves scope for errors, which in turn allow owners or tenants to challenge the notices in court, said a senior civic official. “Notices with spelling mistakes, wrong names and addresses of tenants, or even the wrong section of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act under which the notice is sent, leads to a dismissal of the notice by the court,” the official said.

The new software is yet to receive a final nod before the process of making it can begin. The proposed software will have a back-end and front-end for operations. At the back-end, it will standardise the format in which notices are issued. It will update officers about the status of dilapidated buildings, pending notices, expiry of issued deadlines, as well as standardise audits and audit reports. At the front-end, it will allow users to view the status of the application and submit audit reports online.

“Notices to dilapidated buildings are sent under section 353B of MMC act, 1888. Mistakes in writing down the exact clause can lead to problems. We want to standardise the procedure,” said the official.

Buildings that are more than 30 years old need to get a structural audit conducted by a BMC-approved structural auditor and submit the copy to BMC. Following this, it needs to then get the audit conducted every 10 years to check for structural stability. In case the buildings are extremely dilapidated, BMC sends notices to residents to vacate the building. Currently, there are 104 dilapidated buildings in the city that fall under the C-1 (extremely dilapidated) category.