South, east Delhi to pay more for getting building plans approved

The MCD’s approval means that the fee will now be levied across the city with immediate effect, as it was earlier charged only in areas of north Delhi

Erecting new buildings in south and east Delhi is likely to get costlier, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday approved a proposal to levy compensatory regulatory charges against circle rates while approving building plans.

Earlier, the charges were in place only in six zones of former North MCD — Keshavpuram, Civil Lines, Rohini, Karol Bagh City Sadar Paharganj, Narela — since November 2020, when the civic body was trifurcated. (HT Archive)

The charges, which will be based on the built-up area, will be levied on new residential, industrial and commercial establishments, besides construction on agricultural land and in Low Density Residential Areas (LDRA).

The MCD’s approval means that the fee will now be levied across the city with immediate effect — earlier, it was charged only in areas of north Delhi.

Plots smaller than 250 square metre in size will be charged 0.05% of their cost as per circle rates (calculated at built-up area), while those bigger than 250 square metre will have to pay 0.1% extra.

The charge will therefore increase the cost of construction for residential buildings.

To understand this calculation, a building spread over 300 square metre in A category colony such as Panchsheel Park, which has a circle rate of ₹7.74 lakh per square metre, the amount will come to ₹2,32,200.

The rates will be doubled for industrial and tripled for commercial units. The highest rate of 1% will be applicable as special charges on agricultural land and LDRA.

The charges will be levied on the built-up area instead of the plot area.

Circle rates in Delhi vary according to the category of the colony — from ₹7.74 lakh in A category to ₹23,000 in H category. Compensatory regulatory charges are a form of levy paid at the time of getting building plans sanctioned for a new construction.

The idea behind it is that new development brings new residents, which can put a strain on a city’s infrastructure and services, including schools and water.

The fee is designed to offset the additional cost of maintaining these services, besides collecting funds for the infrastructure development on account of increased load on civic infrastructure due to density and rise in dwelling units.

“...MCD has revised the rates on the basis of built-up area...to maintain uniformity to cover the entire jurisdiction of MCD after unification. To levy the compensatory/ regulatory charges on entire plot area does not seem appropriate. After revision of rates, big government offices and educational institutions will save money They have to pay charges only on built-up area rather than on entire plot area,” the office of mayor Shelly Oberoi said in a statement.

Earlier, the charges were in place only in six zones of former North MCD — Keshavpuram, Civil Lines, Rohini, Karol Bagh City Sadar Paharganj, Narela — since November 2020, when the civic body was trifurcated.

At present, in the six zones of North MCD, the charge is levied at the rate of 0.2% of circle rates for houses spread on area over 50sqm area and 0.1% of circle rates on the plot area for smaller plots.