At his first-ever press conference, UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit Tuesday admitted that “there was a goof-up and an old paper was mistakenly inserted in the annexure” and that "they were always in favour of conversion of leasehold into freehold for the commercial and industrial plots”. In an action taken report submitted in the Supreme Court, the Chandigarh Administration had claimed that “if conversion is done, there may be shortage of properties with administration and there would be a loss of income”. The industrialists had reacted sharply and said that the report came as a rude shock because the administration had been telling them that they are at work to ensure conversion. “Kuchh purana paper galti se annexure mein lag gaya hai. Kahin misunderstanding hui hai. Maine DC ko bola hai galti ko theek karne ke liye, ministry mein bhi bheja hai. Kal DC bhi gaye the or Adviser bhi ja rahe hain kal (Some old paper mistakenly got inserted in the annexure and there was a misunderstanding. I have told the Deputy Commissioner to rectify this mistake. The officers have also been to the ministry. Yesterday DC went and tomorrow the Adviser is going)," said Purohit. The Administrator said, “Vaise ye controversy honi nahi chahiye thi. Mere khyal se kahin goof up hai. Wo paper galti se lag gaya annexure mein and misunderstanding ho gayi hai, so there has to be a clarity that as far as UT is concerned — Administrator, Adviser, everybody — we are all for freehold. (Otherwise, this controversy shouldn’t have happened. I think there is a goof-up and mistakenly a paper went with the annexure and this misunderstanding happened. So there has to be a clarity).” He went on to add, “To yeh jo galti hai, usse durust karne ke liye hai yeh (This conference is to clarify the mistake).” The Administrator also specified “he and the officers of Chandigarh Administration were always in favour of the conversion of leasehold into freehold” and somehow “mistakenly it has been misinterpreted that they are not in favour of the same”. Pointed out that in the action taken report, the UT had said something else, Adviser Dharam Pal then replied, “You see you can't say that administration has reversed its stand. Agar reverse kiya hota to hum withdraw hi kar lete proposal ko, but humne vaise to nahi kiya Supreme Court mein (Had we reversed our stand, we could have even withdrawn the proposal, but we never did it in the SC).” The UT Adviser later said that for every proposal, pros and cons are specified and there was a misunderstanding and misinterpretation and “we shouldn't get into the annexure and all”. WHAT HAPPENED IN APEX COURT LAST WEEK ? The Supreme Court on August 30 had paved the way for the conversion of industrial and commercial properties in Chandigarh from leasehold into freehold after finding observations and reasons given by the Chandigarh Administration on the issue to be “not tenable”. The apex court’s directions came after the Chandigarh Administration filed an action taken report, enclosing a copy of the communication, dated August 28, 2022, forwarded to the under-secretary in the Union Home Affairs Ministry, in respect of conversion of industrial/ commercial plots from leasehold into freehold in Chandigarh. In its action taken report, the UT Administration had stated, “If commercial and industrial plots are converted into freehold, there will be shortage of properties with the administration and there would be loss of income in the form of unearned increase." The UT administration, in its action taken report, had also told the Supreme Court that Chandigarh is a landlocked Union Territory with limited land resource and the majority of commercial and industrial plots were allotted on the leasehold basis and ownership of these plots lies with the Chandigarh Administration. If the commercial and industrial plots are converted into freehold, there will be shortage of properties with the administration. “As the properties had been leased out, Chandigarh Administration is getting annual ground rent from these properties, which was a regular source of revenue for the administration. Government may lose regular income once it is converted into freehold,” the administration said.
