PUNE: The State Housing Federation has urged the Maharashtra government to reduce the premium for the conversion of government land to freehold to 5% of ready reckoner rates instead of 10% announced in the cabinet meeting on March 14.
The announcement made before the Lok Sabha polls will help around 5,000 housing societies, mainly in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Thane.
The federation members have written to the state government to revise the premium rates.
Chairman of State Housing Federation Suhas Patwardhan told TOI that they have been demanding a reduction in premium, but that the government has kept it at 10%.
“Old societies have to pay a lot as the premium is on RR rates. The rates are high in city areas and it is not justified that they pay so much,” he told TOI.
Moreover, the outer time limit of September, too, is not acceptable, and this has been conveyed to the state government, he added.
But it is unlikely that the government will take any decision on the request for revision, a senior revenue official told TOI on Wednesday.
“With five-phase election in the state commencing from April 19, the government is unlikely to carry out any revision till the first week of June. After the Lok Sabha polls, assembly polls will be held in the state towards the end of the year for which the model code of conduct will again be in place,” said the official.
Last year, the RR rates were 15%, which were later reduced to 10%. The decision to allow conversion of government land to freehold for housing societies was announced in 2019 for three years and later given an extension for another two years.
The period of extension ended on March 7 this year after which the new revised rates were announced ahead of the LS polls, announced on March 16.
Earlier in 2022-23, around 170 applications were submitted to the revenue department by housing societies in Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane and Nashik for conversion of occupancy land to freehold land by paying the premium.
However, these applications have not been cleared as the RR rates are yet to be finalised.
“Most old housing societies are in a dilapidated state and in an urgent need of redevelopment. But the high premium makes redevelopment unviable,” said Ramesh Prabhu, chairperson, Maharashtra Society Welfare Association .
The state government allots plots broadly on two basis — lease and occupancy class II.
Leasehold land can be used only for permitted activities and can remain with the lessee for a determined period by paying annual rent.
Plots allotted under occupancy class II provide conditional ownership for which the allottee does not have to pay annual rent.
