Pay through nose for conversion

Chandigarh : Residents will have to pay up to 50 times more for conversion of residential property from leasehold to freehold as Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore today approved the revised rates for conversion as proposed by the Estate Office.
The new rates will come into effect from the day of the notification, which is likely to be issued tomorrow.
The Estate Office had calculated the conversion charges on a pro-rata basis (proportionate allocation according to share), considering the collector rates as the land rates, and had sent these for approval to the Administrator.
On August 18, Kirron Kher, Member of Parliament, had announced to restart the conversion process, which was on hold for four years.
The Administration had kept the policy in abeyance since 2013 after the matter was referred to the MHA for re-fixation of conversion charges.
The Administration had decided to use the collector rates as the land rates in the formula for calculation of conversion charges as per the original scheme in 1996.
Earlier, the Administration used to charge Rs 1,710 per sq metre as the conversion fee. For CHB flats, the rates have been fixed from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. An amount of Rs 2 lakh has been fixed for conversion of low income group (LIG) flats, which was earlier Rs 4,300. The conversion rate of middle income group (MIG) flats has been fixed at Rs 3 lakh, which was earlier Rs 6,100. For getting high income group (HIG-lower) flats converted into freehold, owners will be charged Rs 4 lakh. The earlier rate was Rs 6,100. For conversion of HIG (upper) flats, owners will have to pay Rs 5 lakh, which was earlier Rs 10,700. The conversion rates for Estate Office plots are likely to be fixed from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 50 lakh according to the size of the plot and the sector it falls in as the collector rates vary from sector to sector.