State out with land exchange policy for licensed colonies

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 1

Builders of residential colonies in Haryana will be able to exchange land among themselves with the aim of better planning of several licensed colonies and sectors across the state.

With the BJP government coming up with a new policy for the “reorganisation of boundaries of the licensed colonies through exchange of land”, the builders would be able to plan their projects in a better way without affecting the net area of a residential project.

Sources said the new policy was an offshoot of several requests received by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) regarding the reorganisation of colony boundaries in several sector to enable better planning of the licensed land in the sector without affecting the net area.

“The matter has been deliberated in detail for the formulation of policy parameters for uniformity in decision-making and transparency in the process to deal with such cases,” the source said.

At present, for the purpose of grant of colony licence, the ownership of land is a pre-requisite. The developer is issued a licence when he fulfilled the land requirements irrespective of the shape of chunk of land.

However, when a majority of pending licences are granted, especially in the adjoining area of the already issued licences, the need for reorganisation of colony boundaries within the sector was felt. “The current policy is aimed to prescribe detailed policy parameters to address issues concerning the reorganisation of boundaries without affecting the overall planning of the sector,” the sources said.

“Instead of treating the original boundary of a licensed colony as sacrosanct, the policy would enable reorganisation of boundaries for better planning and more efficient use of scarce land resources without following the tedious process of de-licensing and re-licensing. However, the licensees/developers must be willing to abide by the terms and conditions of this policy,” a senior official said.

However, the exchange of land would be allowed after imposing statutory levies, including scrutiny fee and administrative charges.