Check DTCP or CMDA approval before a token advance

Before you pay a token advance on a Tamil Nadu plot, match the layout approval number on the government’s approved-plan list. A caption that says “DTCP approved” is not the approval. The list has no survey-number search.

Last checked 11 November 2026. Not legal advice. Fees for regularisation are not printed here. If the portal menu has changed, follow the portal.

DTCP and CMDA

CMDA, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, is the planning authority for the Chennai Metropolitan Area. Its site is cmdachennai.gov.in. DTCP, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, is the office brokers name for layout approval outside that metropolitan work. Its layout page is tcp.tn.gov.in/layout. Do not treat the two names as one office. Do not treat a panchayat president’s letter as either approval.

How to check the plan

The DTCP layout page links to onlineppa.tn.gov.in/approved-plan-list. The form asks you to choose a department, an approval type, a district and a year. It does not ask for a survey number. When the row appears, match the approval number on the seller’s paper, then open the approval letter and the approved plan. If the number is not in the list, do not tell the buyer the layout is approved.

Unapproved layouts

G.O. (Ms.) No. 148, Housing and Urban Development Department, dated 27 July 2026, extended regularisation to 30 June 2027. The DTCP policy note describes the scheme as covering unapproved layouts in plain areas where at least one plot was sold and registered on or before 20 October 2016. Hill areas are under a separate order. Read that order before you use 30 June 2027 outside the plain areas. The press note is DIPR press release 459. Applications go through tcponline.tn.gov.in. This page does not print the fee.

Individual plots are a separate case. DTCP press release 1415, dated 24 June 2025, says applications for individual plots in unapproved layouts that were registered on or before 20 October 2016 are accepted without a time limit, on onlineppa.tn.gov.in, from 1 July 2025. Whole layouts use tcponline.tn.gov.in until 30 June 2027 under G.O. (Ms.) No. 148. This page prints no fee.

Before the token

• The approval number, matched on the list above.
• Patta and chitta. See patta and chitta.
• An encumbrance certificate on tnreginet.gov.in.
• The FMB sketch.
• Whether the layout roads, and any open space the approval required, were handed over to the local body. Ask. Do not guess.
• The land classification. Poramboke and natham are different words. Both are in the glossary.

Guideline value, if the buyer asks about stamp duty, is a different page. It is not proof of approval.

Keep the approval number in the listing notes. Keep the owner phone in the owner vault, and send the buyer your Estavik link instead of a forwarded deed photo. Finding people who already asked for that side of town is covered in finding buyers for land. The state map is Tamil Nadu.

Steps

1. Ask which authority approved the layout. CMDA covers the Chennai Metropolitan Area. DTCP is the directorate people name outside that area. A panchayat letter is not either approval.
2. Take the approval number from the seller. A WhatsApp line that says DTCP approved is not the approval. You need the number and the plan.
3. Open the approved-plan list. Go to onlineppa.tn.gov.in/approved-plan-list, linked from tcp.tn.gov.in/layout. Choose department, approval type, district and year.
4. Match the number, not the survey number. The list has no survey-number search. Find the approval number, then open the approval letter and the approved plan.
5. Decide on a token only after the papers match. Also ask for patta and chitta, an encumbrance certificate, and the FMB sketch. Ask whether layout roads were handed over. Keep the owner phone in your own vault.

Questions