UP govt to soon take a decision on leasehold properties in Noida

In response to a Noida resident’s petition filed in July this year, the Allahabad high court directed the UP government on September 9 to decide the matter within one month’s time

The Uttar Pradesh government will soon take a decision on residents’ demands of converting leasehold properties into freehold following a directive from the Allahabad high court. In response to a Noida resident’s petition filed in July this year, the Allahabad high court directed the UP government on September 9 to decide the matter within one month’s time.

Under the freehold system, an allottee has outright ownership of property, thereby making its transfer and sale easier. (Representative picture/HT)

This is the first time that the court has directed the state government to decide the issue in a month--residents have been demanding freehold status of their properties for several years.

Under the freehold system, an allottee has outright ownership of property, thereby making its transfer and sale easier. Under the leasehold system, the government has control over the sale or transfer of a property. Moreover, as per the leasehold system, the owner has the right to call the property his or hers for only 90 years — and not forever.

During the hearing on September 9, the state counsel submitted before the court that the matter raised by the petitioner is under “active consideration with the state government and being a policy decision, some reasonable time may be given to finalise the decision which is required to be approved by the cabinet”.

“As prayed by the learned standing counsel a month’s time is given to the respondents for taking final decision on the matter. Let writ petition is listed again in October 2021, enabling the respondents (UP gov) to take a final decision of the subject matter. It is however made clear that further delay in the matter would not be accepted thus, the respondents would take a final decision in this matter before the next date of hearing,” said the order passed by acting chief justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and justice Anil Kumar Ojha.

The Uttar Pradesh government has sought details again from the Noida authority to make a decision before the next court hearing scheduled in October.

“We have provided the state government with all facts and figures about leasehold properties and how the freehold status will impact the development and maintenance of civic infrastructure,” said a Noida authority official, requesting anonymity. Chairman of the Noida authority Sanjiv Mittal and CEO Ritu Maheshwari were not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

In November 2018, during its board meeting, the Noida authority approved a proposal to convert all leasehold properties into freehold.

Petitioner PS Jain, president of the confederation of Delhi-NCR residents’ welfare association (CONRWA), an umbrella body of RWAs, filed this plea in July this year to question why the state had not taken a decision three years after the Noida authority board approved this proposal.

“We submitted before the court that when leasehold property has been converted to freehold in all cities of the country, then why not in Noida? A committee formed by the authority also recommended that freehold status should be awarded to leasehold properties. The Noida authority itself recommended it. Then why the delay in decision making?” said Jain, who is hopeful that leasehold property will be deemed freehold in Noida next month.

The authority, in 2017, conducted a survey on the impact of changing the status of certain properties to freehold from leasehold. Ernst & Young, an agency surveyed and studied revenue pattern and profit from this move, and submitted a report in October 2018 on the pros and cons of conversion from leasehold to freehold. Later the same year, an internal committee of the authority also deliberated on the survey report and recommended that freehold status should be awarded to leasehold properties.