Violators Cough Up ₹1cr, Real Estate News, ET RealEstate
GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning recovered Rs 1 crore from violators during sealing drives against unauthorised construction and illegal commercial activities in licensed colonies.
DTCP collected around Rs 50 lakh in the form of penalties and bank guarantees for de-sealing buildings that were closed for various violations.
Similarly, around Rs 50 lakh was collected by granting property owners permissions for running non-nuisance activities, after first sealing their buildings for running commercial activities illegally.
According to the Non-Nuisance Rules, some activities have been listed for which 25% of the built-up area of the ground floor of any residential house can be given permission for commercial use.
These include services provided by lawyers, doctors, tax consultants, architects (without studio), contractor consultants, chartered accountants, company secretaries, property consultants and tourist guides.
The department has also issued permissions to 100 properties found running commercial activities without mandatory permissions from the competent authorities.
After the drive, the department got information from field staff that several buildings have been de-sealed by the property owners without permission, while some property owners have fulfilled the norms and are eligible for de-sealing.
District town planner Manish Yadav said that the department has seized the bank guarantees of the de-sealed buildings and re-sealed them as per the rules. 10 buildings have been de-sealed as per the rules, he added. In lieu of this, bank guarantees worth Rs 27 lakh and penalties worth Rs 16 lakh have been deposited with the department. Now, the department is writing letters to the concerned banks to encash the guarantees.
Another Rs 59 lakh were collected by issuing permits to 100 property owners for non-nuisance activities. Most of these permissions have been issued after the start of the sealing drive. “Due to fear of sealing, people are now applying for permissions. The department has also collected revenue of around Rs 59 lakh from this. These permissions have been issued in 17 licensed colonies,” Yadav said.
The 100 permissions that have been issued so far included 36 property offices, 45 doctor consultation clinics, seven lawyers’ offices, five architects, four chartered accountants, one company secretary, one contractor and one electrical activity.
The approval is given for five years and for this the operator has to deposit a fee of Rs 60,000 with the DTCP.
