No change in Ghaziabad circle rates, may lead to more property registries

The state government is also making a move towards citizen-friendly initiatives, and there have been no directions from the government so far for any hike, said Ghaziabad district magistrate.

For the third straight year, the Ghaziabad administration has proposed no hike in circle rates, in the wake of a slump in the property market, as well as in the hope of earning more revenue by increasing the number of registries done.

Circle rates in Ghaziabad have remained unchanged for a third consecutive year, in the wake of a slump in the property market. (HT Photo)

“We have no proposal to hike the circle rates this year due to slump in the property market. The state government is also making a move towards citizen-friendly initiatives, and there have been no directions from the government so far for any hike,” Dr Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, said.

The existing rates with any minor corrections, if taken at a later date, will come into effect from August 8.

Currently, Indirapuram has a circle rate of ₹66,500 per square metre on properties located along nine-metre wide roads and ₹69,800 per square metre for properties located along 18-metre wide roads.

Properties along roads above 18-metres wide is ₹73,100 per square metres. Likewise, rates in Vaishali range from ₹67,500 per square metre to ₹74,000 per square metre on the basis of their location. Rates in Kavi Nagar range between ₹48,000 and ₹51,000 per square metre.

Officials of the stamps and registration department said they have not received any proposals for rate hikes from residents, but received only a bunch of applications from farmers of Alipur village in Loni who want land rates hiked from ₹90 lakh per hectare to ₹1.5 crore per hectare.

“The farmers have not been able to give us a reason to hike rates in their area. However, we have sent their proposal to the sub-registrar for further study, who will then submit their findings to us,” an officer from the department said.

Circle rates are proposed by the district magistrate and are a determinant for paying stamp duty during property resale. Authorities like GDA, and others initially sell property on the basis of their sector rates.

The owner pays stamp duty during the registry of any property. The amount of stamp duty payable is computed on the basis of a fixed percentage after valuation of property on the basis of circle rates.

According to official data, the department registered about 56,151 sale deeds during 2016-17 and collected revenue of nearly ₹1,014.45 crore against the target of ₹1,617.7 crore.

In 2017-18, the department registered 65,508 sale deeds and received increased revenues of ₹1,224.33 crore against the target of Rs1,617.7 crore.

The department in 2018-19 was assigned a target of ₹1,626 crore, against which it achieved about ₹1,442.95 crore by registering 73,099 sale deeds.