Maharashtra: Realty players to take issues to chief secy Ajoy Mehta

Realty sector players have appealed to the state government that the land ready reckoner (RR) rate should be 33% of the residential RR rate and it should not be arbitrarily fixed by the Inspector General of Registration in absence of contemporaneous land transactions. They have argued that in a city like Mumbai, there are zero transactions of vacant lands that can be relied upon to determine land RR values.

To discuss this issue along with a gamut of others, representatives from CREDAI, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and Practising Engineers Architects & Town Planners Association (PEATA) will meet the state Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta on July 18.

As far as building plan approval is concerned, the realty players have pleaded that the powers currently enjoyed by the BMC Commissioner should be delegated to the Chief Engineer or Deputy Chief Engineer. Moreover, they have demanded that the entire stamp duty charged for land acquisition or development agreement should be allowed to be recouped in the VAT format. NAREDCO president Niranjan Hiranandani said the real estate sector is passing through difficult times. "To mitigate problems faced by the sector, several requests were made to the state to streamline the functioning of the planning authority," he said.

Other Demands

They are also pressing for a reduction in staircase, lift and lift lobby premium for residential buildings from 25% to 10% ; the same rate should be applicable for commercial buildings