The industrialized building practices and the modern technology being applied by the Builders in Kochi must be of the highest standard. Almost all the structural components and the new building materials being used must be standardized. They must be capable of being mass manufactured in factories. The materials and components being used can be brought under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or Indian Standards Institute (ISI) norms, marking and standards.

A building structure of any size, shape and dimension can be modularly planned for greater economy, can be speedily erected, jointed and the entire works completed with super fast speed. Only the housing bodies or the housing financing banks must undertake the sale of the housing stock thus created. This alone will give all the benefits to the country and the unfortunate millions without a roof under their head.

The recent Supreme Court judgment by a bench of three judges, giving a “means test” to identify weaker sections and the appointment of a monitoring committee proves that ultimate end use of the land falling under the UL (C&R) Act is to provide housing for the weaker sections of a specified area, of good quality within reasonable time and cost. This purpose is defeated by giving land under Sections 20 and 22 of the Act. So housing flats should be given and not just vacant land. Also securing the approval for building construction is a time consuming process for individuals. In many instances the Housing Finance Corporations (HFCs) are deprived of the benefit of various fiscal incentives when lending to certain classes of people.

It is understood that Housing Promotion and Finance Corporation (HPFC) which has been sponsored by the State Bank of India for meeting the housing finance requirements of the people in the Eastern and North-Eastern regions has not been able to obtain approval under the aforesaid section since its objectives as outlined in its Memorandum do not strictly conform to the requirements of the Act. The intention of the legislature’s underlying inclusion of various financial incentives to companies engaged in housing finance activities in the Income Tax Act is laudable, but in actual practice very few companies have been able to avail these benefits. What is necessary is the adoption of a more realistic approach and expeditious disposal by the Ministry of Finance in this matter.