In a significant step towards coordinated and reform-oriented governance, the District Collector, Mumbai City, Aanchal Goyal, and District Collector, Mumbai Suburban, Saurabh Katiyar, held a joint meeting with a Joint Task Force of real estate associations, including CREDAI-MCHI, NAREDCO, BDA and PEATA, along with senior officials from both Collectorates.
The meeting focused on addressing long-standing challenges related to land administration, revenue procedures, royalty applicability and approval timelines, with both Collectors underlining the need for systemic, SOP-driven reforms to ensure clarity, consistency and statutory compliance.
Setting the tone, Collector Aanchal Goyal stated that issues raised by the industry — particularly on royalty norms, procedural delays and duplication of physical surveys — are substantive and merit structural correction. She emphasized that both Collectorates are committed to introducing simplified mechanisms that reduce ambiguity while strengthening transparency and governance.
Collector Saurabh Katiyar highlighted that bringing both City and Suburban Collectorates together on a common platform enables uniform decision-making and coordinated governance. He assured that proposals such as unified physical surveys, streamlined amalgamation and subdivision procedures, and improved land record transparency would be examined through a structured institutional mechanism to ensure time-bound implementation.
One of the key discussions revolved around the applicability of royalty on excavated soil, especially the industry’s demand to exclude royalty where excavated material is not transported outside the project site. Concerns regarding short validity periods, inaccurate excavation quantity calculations and approval delays were also raised. Both Collectors assured that simplified and time-bound SOPs would be introduced to address these issues comprehensively.
Deliberations also focused on reducing prolonged timelines for amalgamation and subdivision proposals, with assurances that dedicated SOPs would be framed. Another major reform discussed was the proposal for a single, unified physical survey that could be used for multiple purposes — including NA permissions, demarcation, amalgamation/subdivision and handover of amenities — thereby eliminating duplication and repeated site visits.
Commenting on behalf of the industry, Sukhraj Nahar, President, CREDAI-MCHI, said the joint commitment of both Collectorates reflects a shared intent to deliver practical reforms that improve ease of doing business while enhancing transparency. Kamlesh Thakur, President Elect, NAREDCO Maharashtra, termed the meeting a decisive shift towards collaborative policymaking that would boost predictability and confidence across the real estate ecosystem.
Supporting the initiative, Vikram Mehta, President, BDA, and Sandip Isore, President, PEATA, noted that unified procedures and streamlined approvals would significantly reduce procedural redundancies and operational delays.
The Joint Task Force reaffirmed its commitment to continued engagement with the administration and confirmed that a steering committee comprising Collectorate officials and ancillary departments would be formed to identify procedural bottlenecks and recommend reforms to be implemented at the Collector level or escalated to the state government for further action.