Over 20,000 stuck, in-deed!

DEEDS, NOT words, matter. Indeed! And who should know this better than over 20,000 allottees of the LDA? They have been waiting for more than two months now to get the sale deeds of their properties executed, thanks to a mere procedural formality by the State Government to renew the stamp duty concession allowed to development authorities.

DEEDS, NOT words, matter. Indeed! And who should know this better than over 20,000 allottees of the LDA? They have been waiting for more than two months now to get the sale deeds of their properties executed, thanks to a mere procedural formality by the State Government to renew the stamp duty concession allowed to development authorities.

HT Image

The concession deadline expired on March 31. In the absence of this special consideration, an allottee would have to pay an enhanced stamp duty on his property based on DM circle rate, which are much higher than the one’s prescribed by the LDA under its housing schemes. Not surprising, therefore, despite making a full payment for their plot, people are unwilling to get the same registered in their name. And with the State Government extending the arrangement in a piecemeal manner every year, the stalemate over stamp duty has become an annual feature. 

Apprehending a repeat scenario, LDA Vice Chairman BB Singh had drawn the attention of the authorities to the problem on April 18 seeking extension of the stamp duty concession. In his letter, Singh had said that though LDA had executed registries of as many as 2,326 properties by holding two special registry camps each month yet a tremendous backlog remained. “This is because a large number of these properties have been allotted on hire-purchase basis and the due date for depositing full installments against them was 2007. Hence, the registries of these plots could not be carried out,” he had pointed out.

This year, however, the authorities have offered only verbal assurances so far vis-à-vis allowing the existing stamp duty concession to continue. “We have been told that the State Cabinet has given its nod to continue the present arrangement but a formal government order is yet to reach us in this connection,” said an LDA official requesting anonymity. This is small consolation for some 20,804 allotees of LDA various housing schemes, who are keeping their fingers crossed for that elusive government order to end their wait. “This is sheer harassment. We are unable to register the property in our name simply because sloth bears in Bapu Bhawan have not moved the concerned proposal to the authorities to issue necessary orders in this connection,” said Nizamuddin Alam, who has a plot in Mansarovar Scheme of the LDA. Similar is the grievance of Urmila Gupta, a review officer in the secretariat, who has been allotted plot number 1/366 in Jankipuram Extension Scheme of the LDA. 

While 12,000 of these properties have been allotted on hire-purchase basis, 8,804 have been sold on cash purchase and self-finance method under Gomti Nagar, Sitapur Road, Aliganj, Hardoi Road and Kanpur Road Housing Schemes of the agency.