Prompt registration of IDA plots now made mandatory

THE INDORE Development Authority (IDA) is mulling a proposal to impose fiscal penalties on plot buyers who defer registration in a bid to save stamp duties.

THE INDORE Development Authority (IDA) is mulling a proposal to impose fiscal penalties on plot buyers who defer registration in a bid to save stamp duties.

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The Authority is learnt to have decided to amend the plot allotment agreement making it mandatory for buyers to get the land registered immediately after purchase. Failure to do so will result in hefty fines being levied on violators. The exact amount, however, is yet to be finalised.

At the time of being allotted an IDA plot, all buyers are made to sign an agreement promising to get the sale registered within six months from the date of purchase. A large number of buyers, however, take possession of the land after signing the agreement but do not get it registered.

Though cognisant of the evasion, the IDA has been powerless to act, as the agreement does not allow any punitive measures against those exceeding the six-month deadline. ‘‘As the sale agreement or allotment is considered sufficient proof of ownership, buyers keep delaying registration so as to avoid paying stamp duties,” pointed out IDA Chief Executive Officer C B Singh. IDA estimates that the number of allottees who have not had land transferred to their name run into thousands.

“In some cases people haven’t bothered to get the land registered even 10-15 years after the allotment,” revealed an IDA estate department official. The buyers’ intransigence leads to mounting paperwork. “Until a plot is registered the concerned file cannot be dispatched and so the records keep piling up,” said Singh.