The Punjab Government on Saturday fulfilled a long-pending demand of the residents living in over 5,000 unauthorised colonies with the decision to regularise them. The decision would pave the way for providing basic civic amenities to majority of residents of unauthorised colonies.
Punjab Cabinet, held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, approved the policy for Compounding or Regula
risation of Unauthorised Colonies and Buildings under the Punjab laws (Special Provisions) Act-2013.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that this would be a big relief to about 5,000 colonies and 2 lakh individuals plot holders and building owners’ across the State. He said the policy focuses on bringing all the unauthorised colonies and buildings into planning framework and to regularise development, which would further facilitate smooth implementation of master plans across State to ensure entire urban development in a holistic manner.
“Apart from this, another aim of policy was to provide basic civic amenities to the residents of these areas and improve circulation pattern of the streets and roads thereby checking the trend of haphazard growth,” the spokesman said. The policy is expected to stipulate provisions to compound offences made under the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act 1995, the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act 1995, the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976, the Punjab Town Improvement Act 1922 and the Punjab Municipal Act 1911.
The spokesman said the policy would be applicable for a period of one year - from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014 in the entire State. Only those unapproved colonies or the buildings constructed before the April 1, 2013 would be considered under this policy. This would be one time opportunity given by the Government to the colonisers and plot holders to get their offence compounded and regularised and to improve the amenities in these areas. This entire process would be completed by March 31, 2014. After the scrutiny of applications the colonisers/plot owners would be issued regularisation certificates. But any colony constructed over the land belonging to State, Central Government, public undertakings, Panchayat lands, Waqf Board, land under Punjab land Preservation Act (PlPA) and others would not be covered under this policy.
Under this policy, the plot owners were required to submit applications to the Chief Administrator of the concerned authority for outside the Municipal limits areas and to Commissioner or Regional Deputy Director of local Government for areas within the Municipal limits within 60 days from the date of the notification of the policy.
The colonisers were required to pay composition fee for compounding their offences, under this policy. The fee would vary from area to area for the colonies developed before and after August 2007. The approximate rates of composition fee vary from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per acre. Similarly, the individual plot and building owners could come forward for regularisation of their plots and buildings by paying regularisation charges which vary from Rs 50 per to Rs 500 per square yard. The money so collected would be used for providing basic amenities in these colonies.
If any coloniser does not apply within 60 days then legal proceedings through registration of FIR would be initiated. Similarly, for these colonies if the individual plot and building owners do not apply under this scheme then the registration of their plots would be ceased and Power, Water Supply, Sewerage connections would be disconnected.
Amendment to Punjab Municipal Act 1911 gets Cabinet's nod
The Cabinet gave green signal to amend the Punjab Municipal Act 1911 and the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1976, in accordance with the recommendations of the Cabinet Sub Committee regarding the imposition of Property tax in State besides securing Revenue for the urban local bodies. The Cabinet also approved to do away with the Zone Wise Unit Value Based Property Tax. The Cabinet not only decided to revert back to the old Annual Value System but also has given a slew of major concessions in that.
From the earlier house tax of 15 per cent of the Annual Rental Value for the Commercial Rented Property, the rates have been drastically reduced to 10 per cent and for Rental Residential Property Tax rates have been brought down from earlier 10 to 7.5 per cent annually .
Similarly, for non-rented Commercial Property the rates have been reduced from earlier 15 to 3 per cent of the annual value. For self occupied houses upto 50 Sq Yards a consolidated Rs 50 per year would be charged and for houses between 50 to 100 Sq. Yards the annual consolidated tax of Rs 150 would be charged.
Besides, all religious institutions, gau shallas, Care Centre for Stray Animals and Charitable Institutions besides Freedom Fighters and people living below the poverty line have been totally exempted from property tax. Still more, widows and the differently-abled persons have been given a rebate upto Rs 5,000 from Property Tax.
Marriage Registration must
In yet another important decision, Council of Ministers gave a go-ahead to Punjab Compulsory Registration Marriage Rules 2013 for registering the marriages of the residents of Punjab. All marriages were required to be now compulsorily registered under these rules within 90 days of the solemnisation of marriages. This will help prevent fraudulent marriages by the NRIs and would also help the women of State.