Mumbai, July 9 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) standing committee on Wednesday approved the long-pending Occupation Certificate (OC) amnesty scheme, paving the way for thousands of homebuyers to regularise their properties and access services such as home loans, mortgages and property transfers. The proposal was cleared despite reservations from several corporators about its implementation, with the administration assuring that any future directions issued by Maharashtra's urban development department (UDD) would be incorporated. Around 25,000 occupied buildings across Mumbai lack an OC due to procedural lapses by the builder, pending compliances, violations, or deviations from approved plans. Residents of such buildings often face difficulties obtaining property-related services and approvals. To be sure, the civic body is technically not supposed to allow occupation without an OC. The development comes seven months after the UDD, in December 2025, directed civic bodies across Maharashtra to implement an OC amnesty scheme for eligible buildings. While the BMC framed guideline, the proposal underwent multiple rounds of revisions following representations from corporators, public representatives, and citizens before finally securing approval. Prabhakar Shinde, chairperson of the standing committee, said the proposal had been approved while keeping the door open for future changes. "As soon as revised directions are received from the urban development department, all necessary suggestions and directions will be incorporated," he said. The leader of the House, Ganesh Khankar, demanded stricter accountability from developers who construct buildings without obtaining OCs. He said such developers should be barred from undertaking future construction projects and called for a public dashboard to display their details. Several corporators supported the proposal, arguing that hundreds of thousands of homebuyers should not continue to suffer for developers' lapses. They said residents living in buildings without OCs face difficulties securing home loans, mortgages, property transfers, and other financial transactions, despite having lived in legally sanctioned buildings for years. The scheme, they said, would restore normal property rights to affected homeowners. With revised state guidelines still awaited, the BMC said that delaying implementation would continue to inconvenience thousands of occupants who have been living for years in approved buildings without OCs. The administration proposed implementing the scheme under the existing government directive and incorporating future amendments later....