UT to reconsider rates, may study Delhi pattern

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

Adviser to the UT Administrator Vijay Kumar Dev has assured industrialists that he would reconsider the rates proposed for the transfer of leasehold properties to freehold before sending them to the Government of India for final approval.

Vinod Mittal, president of the Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, today raised concern over the unusual high rates fixed for transfer of leasehold properties to freehold before the Adviser and requested him to reconsider them on the Delhi pattern.

The administration has recently proposed the new rates under which an allottee will be charged 50% of unearned increase in the value, that is, the difference between the price paid by the original allottee/lessee and the market value of the site/building at the time of granting permission for transfer to be calculated on the basis of existing collector rates. The collector rate is the minimum rate at which a property is registered.

Mittal said the new rates calculated on the formula fixed by the administration were many times higher than the original price of the industrial plots. The allottees would have to pay in crores. It would not be possible for an allottees to pay such a huge amount and no one would opt for the transfer which may also cause revenue loss to the administration.

He requested him to study the formula fixed by the Delhi Government. The fee calculated under the Delhi pattern is reasonable and affordable.

The process for the transfer of leasehold properties to freehold has begun three years after a ban was imposed by the then Administrator Shivraj V Patil.

Arun Mahajan, a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee, and Charanjiv Singh, president of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, also opposed the new rates.

Mahajan said the rates fixed for the transfer of leasehold properties to freehold were unreasonable and totally unjustified. He said nobody was consulted before fixing the rates. On the one hand the administration has formed the committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner to consider the rates and other formalities, but on the other, the rates were fixed unilaterally.

Not a single meeting of the committee has been held so far and the new rates were fixed without waiting for the report of the committee. Charanjiv Singh said allowing the transfer of properties from lease to freehold was a welcome step but the administration should consult all stakeholders before deciding the rates which are very high.