Tamil Nadu has removed the requirement for a no-objection certificate from government departments for electricity connections to eligible houses built on poromboke land, while limiting the concession to homes that meet specified size, land-use and documentation conditions.
The Energy Department issued the government order on September 16. Under the order, applicants must pay the applicable charges and submit a written undertaking acknowledging that an electricity connection does not create any right over the land. They must also accept that they may be evicted and that the power supply may be disconnected if the government requires the land.
The exemption does not apply to houses built on land classified as a water course, mandaiveli or meikal poromboke. Properties on land belonging to temples, cantonment authorities, the Railways and the Forest Department have also been excluded from the facility.
For permitted poromboke land categories, the built-up area of the house must not exceed 250 sq ft. The order creates a separate electricity consumer category, Low Tension-1A(3), to distinguish these connections from regular domestic connections under the LT-1A category. Consumers will be charged the same tariff as domestic users.
An official cited by the Times of India said the earlier requirement for an NOC had contributed to a large pendency of applications. The new system is intended to process eligible applications without requiring applicants to obtain permission from the concerned government authority before seeking a power connection.
The undertaking submitted by each applicant must specifically state that the service connection does not confer ownership or any other right over the land. It must also record the applicant’s acceptance of possible eviction and disconnection if the government needs the land for its purposes.
The order places an inspection responsibility on the section officer concerned. Before releasing a connection under the LT-1A(3) category, the officer must verify that the house has not been constructed on prohibited poromboke land or on other excluded categories of land. This check is intended to prevent the exemption from extending to environmentally sensitive or institutionally controlled land.
The Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited chairman and managing director has been directed to submit district-wise and taluk-wise status reports to the government every three months. The reports are also expected to help monitor whether the facility is being misused.
The implementation will require changes to the billing and application systems. According to the official quoted in the report, the billing software is being updated and the information technology team is working to enable online processing of applications. The connections will require double the security deposit, while other charges for the new consumer category are still being worked out.
The order therefore separates access to electricity from any recognition of land rights. Eligible households may receive a formal power connection, but the service remains conditional on land classification, house size, inspection, payment of charges and the undertaking on eviction and disconnection. The first district and taluk-level status report will provide the government with an initial record of how the new category is being used.
