The number of proposals has risen significantly. Between May and September, the panel had cleared 22 proposals by the BMC. The panel is headed by the municipal commissioner and comprises representatives of the BMC, MHADA, the state government and the traffic police.

“No meeting was held for a long time and now with the present municipal commissioner being transferred, all projects are likely to be in a limbo for a couple of months,” said an official of the BMC’s building proposals department. Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak, who will chair his last meeting with the panel on Wednesday, said: “There were not many cases, so we didn’t have a meeting for long.”

Of the 22 proposals cleared, 12 are awaiting the state government’s final sanction while 10 will be forwarded to the government soon. Among the 20 new proposals are projects by small-time developers who wish to take the benefit of a higher vertical limit when clusters of buildings in a minimum area of one acre are taken up for redevelopment. These developers will get to profit by selling an area 55 to 80 per cent of that used for rehabilitating tenants.