OC Amnesty Scheme Stalled: Mumbai Residents Can't Apply as…

OC Amnesty Scheme Stalls Again: Mumbai Residents Trapped Without Working Portal

Mumbai's OC Amnesty Scheme stalls as the AutoDCR portal stays dead—again.

By First Day First Show5 Oct 20261 min readUpdated 6 October 2026

The much-anticipated OC Amnesty Scheme by the BMC has stalled once again, leaving residents of Mumbai’s Willington Heights and other affected buildings stranded without a working portal. Nearly a month after the civic body announced the scheme on September 8 — following a resolution passed in August, the AutoDCR website remains non-functional, blocking online applications that were supposed to be live since September 9.

Residents like Satish Mehta from Tardeo’s Willington Heights say they’ve been forced into alternate accommodations since August, when the Bombay High Court ordered the evacuation of the top 17 floors due to lack of an Occupation Certificate. Now, with no clear link or updated interface on the BMC’s official site, their attempts to apply are dead-ended.

The old building proposal department link still appears, but it doesn’t allow document uploads. No new dedicated portal has been flashed. That silence is fueling frustration. The scheme, meant for residential, school, and hospital buildings occupied before November 17, 2016, with individual units under 80 sq mt (861 sq ft), allows both architects and individual flat owners to apply.

Provided the building has IOD/amendment plans and development permission. But experts question its practicality. Ramesh Prabhu, chairman of the Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association, warned the scheme could fail like those in 1994 and 2012. He raised concerns: how can a single flat get an OC if the entire building lacks Fire NOC?

Who bears the architect’s fees when only one resident applies? And what about structural violations, like illegal parking spaces or recreational plots. That undermine compliance? These aren’t hypotheticals.

They’re real hurdles. Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide acknowledged technical challenges, saying fixes are underway and the portal will go live by end of week. BJP leader Ganesh Khankar echoed that, calling the slowdown due to “technical problems” being addressed “on fast pace.” Still, for families living in temporary homes, waiting isn’t just a delay, it’s a daily strain.

The promise of relief remains unfulfilled. And the system hasn’t even started.