Bonanza for illegal squatters, govt to grant them ownership rights soon

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 26

The Cabinet on Wednesday offered a slew of incentives to thousands of illegal squatters on commercial and residential properties in municipal bodies and improvement trusts across the state.

The Congress government is set to bring a legislation — the Punjab Management and Transfer of Municipal Properties Act, 2020 — to vest property rights to tenants, who have been occupying such properties for more than 12 years within the MC limits.

A draft of the proposed legislation was approved in the Cabinet meeting chaired by CM Capt Amarinder Singh.

Local Government Department officials said that over the years, a majority of such properties were leased out to tenants by municipal bodies for a fixed time period.

But tenants continued to hold on to the properties on one pretext or the other, with a large number attracting litigations. As a result, municipal bodies were unable to generate revenue from the properties.

The department does not have the correct figure of such properties, but the number is high, it has been learnt. A huge chunk of property in this category is stuck with poor or no returns to the government.

Depending on the size and location, the rent was as low as Rs50 a month, whereas there were many who were not even paying a rupee. There were certain cases where the tenant was long dead.

The legislation allows transfer of commercial properties through auction and residential properties through allotment or draw of lots.

In case of residential properties, the government has decided that for the EWS having an annual income not more than Rs3 lakh, the property rights will be offered at the rate of 12.5 per cent of the collector rate. For low income group having annual income more than Rs8 lakh but not more than Rs15 lakh, the allotment will be done at the rate of 50 per cent of the collector rate. Those in the high income group (more than Rs15 lakh), the allotment will be done at the prevailing collector rate.

Cabinet meet: Slums to be regularised

• The Cabinet approves draft legislation of the Punjab Slum Dwellers (Property Rights) Act, 2020, which will legalise unauthorised settlements in MC limits
• The proposed legislation prepared by the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) — a non-profit organisation — will give beneficiaries the right to own houses
• Beneficiaries will be allotted land varying between 30 sq m and 60 sq m; the size will depend on the type of the civic body — whether it’s a notified area council or a municipal council or a municipal corporation
• Those in the EWS category will be allotted land free of cost. For others, the ownership rights will come at minimal cost