In a shocker for 25,000 plot owners in 50 sectors of booming Greater Noida town, just on the outskirts of the national capital, GNIDA has slapped them with a demand notice to pay ₹1,287 per square meter additional charge together with 11% interest backdated to 2013.
The demand follows Allahabad High Court asking it to give additional compensation to farmers whose land was acquired. Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) borrowed money from banks to pay some of the farmers ₹4,500 crore and is now wanting to recover it by backdating the demand from existing plot owners.
The additional charge of ₹1,287 per sq. mt. will have to be paid by all plot owners irrespective of when they bought the area. This charge will be levied from May 1, 2013 and will attract an 11% simple interest, GNIDA said in the order, adding the amount due will be payable in four equal instalments.
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“Non-payment of the charge will attract an additional 3% penalty,” it said.
The additional payment for a 200 sq. mt. plot comes to over ₹4 lakh.
The September 28 notice to plot holders cites the Allahabad High Court order asking it to give 64.7% additional compensation to farmers.
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It termed the additional charge as “additional compensation recovery.”
Some Resident Welfare Associations have decided to challenge the order in courts.
Following an uproar over the new charge by the plot owners, GNIDA on October 5 issued a clarification saying it had “borrowed about ₹4,500 crore from different banks/ financial institutions to pay additional compensation to farmers. The authority has to pay monthly interest on this loan”.