No completion certificate? Penalty awaits

Get ready to pay a steep penalty if you haven’t got the completion certificate of your property.

Get ready to pay a steep penalty if you haven’t got the completion certificate of your property.

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In order to force people into following building byelaws, the three municipal corporations of the Capital are planning to impose property tax three times the normal amount on homes that cannot produce the completion certificates.

“Many property owners in the city do not apply for completion certificates. We have been examining ways in which the situation can be improved.

One of the models being discussed is to impose heavier property tax on buildings that do not have completion certificates,” said East Delhi Municipal commissioner SS Yadav.

There are more than 30 lakh properties in the city but only a few lakhs have completion certificates. Most homes are built illegally, without any building sanctions.

Officials said properties that apply for building plan sanctions sometimes deviate from the plan they have submitted and so become ineligible for the certificate.

To sort out the issues and to regularise more buildings, the three municipal corporations have been holding discussions for more stringent implementation of the building regulations.

By doing so, they hope to curb illegal construction in the city and also avoid building collapses such as the tragic 2010 Lalita Park tragedy in east Delhi that killed ore than 70 people.

“The idea of imposing three times property tax has been derived from a model in Hyderabad where they are already implementing it. In Hyderabad, buildings that do not have completion certificates have to pay not just heavy property tax but also heavier water and electricity charges,” said Mahek Singh, standing committee chairman of East Delhi.

Civic body officials said if the new model is accepted, a proposal to that effect will be brought before the standing committee of all the three municipal corporations for approval.