News: Gurugram: 10-fold fee hike to de-seal property?-22-12-2020
Synopsis :-
District town planner (enforcement) RS Batth, who had made recommendations about the revised fee to the senior town planner, said such property owners are usually “habitual offenders” because of the low ne.
(This story originally appeared in on Dec 21, 2020) GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has proposed that the fee for de-sealing residential properties that have been sealed for running commercial activities from the premises be raised 10 times along with a bank guarantee.
small amount in comparison to the huge prots they earn by running a commercial establishment from a residential building. Since the ne is low, such property owners often resume the illegal commercial activities. A DTCP team conducting a recent sealing drive in Sushant Lok 1, Golf Course Road and other licenced colonies had found that several residential buildings were being used as guesthouses, hotels and oices. District town planner (enforcement) RS Batth, who had made recommendations about the revised fee to the senior town planner, said such property owners are usually “habitual oenders” because of the low ne. “We have proposed a 10-time hike in the fee for de-sealing such properties that were found running illegally in licenced colonies. The department has also proposed a huge penalty on the owners of such property,” he added.
Oicials said the move was aimed at checking violations of building norms and illegal commercial activities from private buildings in licenced colonies. Most of these properties are along internal roads (18 and 24 metres) and sectoral roads. After the recent sealing drive, DTCP has received several applications for de-sealing properties. “When we were examining the applications, we realised that the fee for desealing properties was on the lower side and did not have much eect on property owners. These oenders become habitual and often resume the illegal activities after paying the de-sealing fee,” said Batth. The de-sealing fee, when compared to the prots a house owner would earn by running a guesthouse from a residential building, is nominal, oicials said. For instance, a private house on a plot measuring 250 sq yards and with a permissible FAR of 2.64 would usually earn between Rs 3-4 lakh a month if it is used as a guesthouse in a prime location. The de-sealing fee is around Rs 1.3 lakh and a bank guarantee of Rs 2.6 lakh.
