Govt to send notice to buyers to pay difference in RR rate for deals in that period
People who bought their properties between May 19 to September 19, 2017 may soon receive recovery notice from the Maharashtra government for their property deals. The government has taken a decision to recover the additional stamp duty and registration charges for that period with retrospective effect.
According to a senior government official, the state government revises, mostly increases, the ready reckoner (RR) rates every year which generally comes into effect on January 1. However, in 2017, after facing strong opposition from the builders lobby, consumers and other stakeholders, the state government stayed its increased RR rate for the period between May 19 to September 19, 2017.
"We had the meeting on Thursday where state Housing Minister Prakash Mehta signed the recovery order. The decision was taken in the Cabinet sub-committee headed by Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil. Initially, Mehta was against the recovery but the revenue department was adamant that they do not want to lose the revenue," a source in the housing department said on Friday.
RR rates are fixed on the basis of the value and proximity of the property to amenities and services.
"The stay order was passed by the government on the rise of RR rate from May 19, which was effective still September 19, 2017. During this period, people paid the stamp duty and registrations charges as per the RR rates of the previous year. Now, we will start sending notices to the people who bought houses in that time to pay the difference as per the revised RR rates of 2017," a source in the revenue department said.
"The total amount is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore," he said.
Shirish Deshpande, chairman at Grahak Panchayat termed this decisions unfortunate. He said that as per the taxation law; the tax cannot be recovered retrospectively. "This draconian recovery decision can be easily struck down in the respective court...Courts are not sympathetic towards retrospective tax effect... Now, only way left for the consumers is to approach the court against the state government," he said.
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