The Hindu : New Delhi News : “People being asked to pay twice for freehold conversion”

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Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008
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“People being asked to pay twice for freehold conversion”

Staff Reporter

Mukhi draws attention of Jaipal Reddy to the problem

NEW DELHI: The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Jagdish Mukhi, has written to Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy to draw his attention to the problem of conversion to freehold being faced by people living in the Land and Development Office and Delhi Development Authority colonies.

In the letter, Prof. Mukhi said that in the new Master Plan for Delhi-2021 a number of roads had been declared “mixed land use” or “commercial”. Also, 112 small-scale industries had been allowed in residential areas and certain professionals had also been permitted to carry out their work from residential areas.

Conversion charges

After this announcement, he said, a large number of people who were running their establishments, trades or shops in residential areas had got them registered with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. They had also deposited conversion charges as well as parking charges with the MCD.

But, he said, when these residents went to the L&DO or DDA to get their properties converted to freehold, both these agencies demanded huge amounts in the name of “misuse charges”.

Stating that this amounted to punishing a person twice for the same crime, Prof. Mukhi urged Mr. Reddy to step in and intervene. Just the way the MCD had regularised the buildings of people who had deposited misuse charges as well as penalty, the L&DO and DDA should also be asked to convert the houses of the applicants into freehold without charging another penalty, he said.

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