The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Architect's certificate not needed'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 05, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Architect's certificate not needed'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 4. Giving a major relief to property owners across the Capital, the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi today ruled that there was no need for an architect to certify the covered area of a building or flat for assessing the house tax under the new Unit Area System.

Apprehending that mandatory certification from architects would bring in a new "architect raj" in the Capital, the MCD Standing Committee decided that the onus for calculating and giving the details of the covered area would now be on the property owners. "In case the MCD finds them incorrect, we would take suitable action against those people," said the Standing Committee Deputy Chairman, Ashok Jain. The decision was welcomed by the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta.

The Standing Committee, however, referred back the recommendation of the Hardship and Anomalies Committee that the rebate for senior citizens, ex-Servicemen and women on house tax be increased from 100 sq. m to 200 sq. m. At the same time, it said the age of senior citizens would be as per the decision of the Delhi Government.

The Committee accepted the recommendation of an additional 10 per cent rebate on self-occupied houses from 50 sq. m to 100 sq. m. The Standing Committee Chairman, Mukesh Goel, also announced the decision to increase the rebate on commercial properties for early payment of house tax from the proposed two per cent to five per cent. Sanjay Puri, the Hardship Committee member, who before the meeting met the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, to ensure that these recommendations were accepted, thanked the Standing Committee for approving five of the six recommendations.

However, the only Opposition member, Vijender Kumar Gupta, alleged that the MCD had gone back on its words and its indecisiveness on concessions and rebates had resulted in all-round confusion among the general public.

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