The recent GR published by Revenue Department pertaining to the payment of premium in the case of new tenure land has posed a stumbling block in the industrial sector planning to buy land parcels for industrial use amidst the recent recession and investment opportunities in Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
According to this GR, the industrial houses will have to shell out 80 per cent of the Jantri as N.A. premium to get the permission for bona fide industrial use under 63 AA, the provision which allows the industrial houses to buy agriculture land with N.A. permission from the collector. The high percentage with unreasonable jantri has made the situation worse.
“The agriculture land price is say about Rs 60 per sq m in an area in Gandhinagar district as per the ready reckoner which was revised to bring in more transparency. The market rate however for old tenure land is Rs 50 per sq m of the same land parcel. Now the new tenure land costs Rs 40 per sq m. We are required to pay 80 per cent premium on Rs 60 per sq m as per the new GR. This effectively means we end up paying Rs 88 against the prevailing market price of Rs 50 per sq m,” explained a senior official of a leading industrial house, without giving out the exact location of their proposed project. This has created a dead lock for industrial houses planning to buy land, he adds.
The GR dated 04-07-2008 directs to make the payment of 80 per cent premium for transferring the land into N.A. in the case of new tenure lands of the latest Jantri prices. The high jantri rates and high percentage of the premium has effectively made the land prices almost double of the prevailing market prices of the old tenure lands in the same area. In adjoining Maharashtra state this premium is just 2% of the purchase price of the land which has made almost any project viable in the state.
“This is a serious issue and no one has looked into it so far as many players have applied brakes on their projects due to the ongoing recession. Hence they have not sought NA permission. In areas especially where the Jantri rates are high, industrial houses will face a serious roadblock owing to this GR,” said a leading realtor.
According to experts this GR is not only marring the prospects of the investments in the region but also impacting farmers and land owners who plan to develop the land with the non- agriculture purpose.
Under the given circumstances and legalities, the very objective of developing the area as industrial corridors is getting defeated by the restrictions laid down in the GR, an industry source said. The need of the hour is to bring down the 80 per cent level to a realistic payable option and revise the jantri as per real ground level facts, he adds.
