Sealing drive: December 31 deadline for shop owners to pay dues

Shop owners who do not pay revised conversion charges for use of residential property for commercial purposes by month-end, will face sealing action, said SC-appointed monitoring committee.

Shop owners in upscale Delhi markets, which fall in the A and B categories as per circle rates notified by the Delhi government, have time till December 31 to pay their ‘use conversion charges’ to prevent sealing of their premises.

There will be a massive sealing drive from Monday that will target properties in markets falling under category A and B, said officials. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee in a meeting with civic agencies on Tuesday decided that the shop owners who do not pay the revised conversion charges for the use of residential property for commercial purposes till December 31, will face sealing action.

The committee asked the civic bodies to circulate this information in the markets with immediate effect. “We will initiate a massive sealing action from Monday and target residential properties misused for commercial purposes in markets falling under category A and B,” said a South Delhi Municipal Corporation official.

The committee on Tuesday had finalised the conversion charges in markets under these categories at Rs 22,274 per square metre. In addition, the shop owners were asked to file an affidavit, saying they would pay up the pending amount once the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) notified the new rates.

Last Thursday, the SDMC and officials of the monitoring committee had sealed 51 units in Defence Colony, including popular restaurants and pubs, over non-payment of conversion charge for using the upper floors of their buildings meant for residential use.

Following Tuesday’s meeting, the traders have been given the option of paying “use conversion charges’ and filing affidavits to get their shops desealed.

SDMC mayor Kamaljeet Sherawat met members of the monitoring committee on Wednesday. “We requested the members to allow the shop owners to deposit initially 25% of the outstanding charges now and extend the deadline for submitting the rest of amount,” she said.

The ‘use conversion charges’ for the markets falling in category C to H is yet to be finalised by the monitoring committee. The DDA has been asked to notify the new rates at the earliest. The corporation has asked the traders to make the pending payments by March next year.

In 2012, the DDA had increased conversion rates from Rs 6,136 per sq metre to Rs 89,000 per sq metre for ‘A to D category’ markets. “However, the move was opposed by professionals, hospitals and clinics operating in these markets and demanded that the ‘high’ rates be reduced,” said AK Jain, former commissioner, planning DDA.

“For markets in category E-G, the conversion rates were decided to Rs 34,000 approx and for H category, it was decided to be around Rs 22,000. But these rates were also opposed by shopkeepers,” he said.

Thereafter, in 2015, the DDA proposed changing the rates from Rs 89,000 per sq metre to Rs 22,274 per sq metre and submitted it to the lieutenant governor. These rates are yet to be notified by the DDA.