The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : State government extends CDS till June 30

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

State government extends CDS till June 30

Response to scheme in the twin cities pretty good

98,892 apply for building regularisation, 23,720 for layout clearance
GHMC collected Rs. 302 crore as penal fees till last month

HYDERABAD: As expected the government issued orders to extend the Compulsory Disclosure Scheme (CDS) till June 30 taking it into sixth month.

The scheme being offered to regularise unauthorised buildings and illegal layouts through payment of penal fee was to be closed by May 31.

With a hearing pending in the High Court and a substantial section awaiting the final orders to apply for the scheme especially for regularising unauthorised construction of flats and independent houses, the government thought it fit to extend the deadline with the hope of getting the clearance from the High Court.

It will also enable many others to make use of the scheme thereafter, has been the loud thinking among officials. Several steps have been announced over the course of the last few months ever since CDS came into force from January 1, 2008.

For example in GHMC, applications are being accepted without the previous sanctioned plan or the new revised plan, self-attested papers will do instead of seeking signatures of a gazetted officer and also the need for a separate land market value certificate was dispensed with.

The civic body had sourced the land market value rates as on January 1, 2008 from the Stamps and Registration Department and any applicant could obtain information pertaining to the rates of their respective area from any of the local circle office to calculate their penal fees.

The fees are based on the flat/building size and the official market rate on the aforesaid date.

While response to the CDS in the twin cities has been pretty good with building regularisation applications reaching 98,892 and 23,720 forms were filed for layout clearance with penal fee collection touching Rs. 302 crore till last month.

Unexpected windfall

Another unexpected windfall has been the rise in property tax collection due to CDS.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has garnered more than Rs. 15 crore in the first three months of the financial year simply because submitting property tax payment receipts along with applications was made compulsory by the auhtorities!

“Usually we used to get about a couple of crores during these months,” said a senior official of the GHMC.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh