The South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the two biggest land owning agencies in the Capital, are at loggerheads over take control of the regularisation of farmhouses that will bring in Rs600 crore to Rs1,000 crore in the form of convergence charges.
The problem between the two agencies started last week when the DDA passed a proposal to take over the farmhouses from under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations and initiate the process of regularising them.
Opposing the DDA’s move on Monday, the SDMC passed a resolution to asking DDA not to carry out the transfer of farmhouses. According to the South Corporation, if the DDA refuses to comply, they will take up the matter with the lieutenant Governor.
“For years now the farmhouses have been governed by the rules and regulations of the municipal corporation. Now that a regularisation process has been initiated to regularise the illegal constructions in the farmhouses, the DDA wants to take them over. We cannot let that happen,” said Rajesh Gehlot, Chairman, Standing Committee.
According to the proposal passed by the DDA, farmhouse owners will have to pay a convergence fee in order to regularize the extra constructions they have carried out over the years. The fee is quite high and will bring in a lot of revenue.
South Corporation is opposed to the move as more than 3,200 of the 4,500 farmhouses in Delhi fall under its jurisdiction and are a big source of property tax. Many of the farmhouses have come up illegally and have been demanding regularisation for the past few years.
The DDA recently came up with a notification that farmhouses in green/agricultural areas that came up before February 7, 2007, can be regularised after paying a convergence charge.