Journalism of Courage
The Chandigarh Housing Board in its board meeting accorded approval to sale of vacant residential land at Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park (IT Park) on a freehold basis, that too for Rs 170 crore.
The agenda had come up for the board’s approval as there were no takers for the land there on a leasehold basis.
It was announced that the sale of vacant residential site no. 12 measuring about 4.95 acres will be done through a transparent e-tender process on a freehold basis.
In order to attract more buyers, for simplified terms and conditions, it was also announced that the purchaser be given required flexibilities in constructions and be allowed to pay the whole bid amount in instalments over a period of about five years. This condition was brought in because there were no takers of sites that were put up for sale in the last few years. Being on leasehold was another handicap.
Now in case of freehold units, the transfer entry in the CHB record is also to be made on the basis of registered sale deed and an affidavit from the transferee being responsible for all the existing building violations issues and ongoing proceedings will be made.
Hence in the case of freehold units, the issue of building violations has been delinked from the transfer of such units, it was decided. The Administration was also requested to allow the sale of all the CHB properties on a freehold basis even in those cases where the land was allotted to CHB on a leasehold basis.
In 2015, the CHB got 123 acres of land back from Parsvnath Developers, the real estate company, after a long-drawn legal battle. In October 2006, the board had decided to develop the site with Parsvnath Developers. However, the project could not be launched. Later in 2015, the CHB took the land back after paying over Rs 560 crore. It had then planned to develop a housing colony, five-star hotel, gymnasium, swimming pool, club, community centre and marriage hall on the 123 acres. Under this project comes the 4.95-acre residential site that will be put up for sale.
Due to the poor response in various auctions of the CHB, the administration allowed conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold and gave a nod to allot its units on a freehold basis. The approval was given after the administration stated that there was no policy that bars the selling of plots by government agencies as freehold properties.
The response to various auctions of leasehold properties has remained very poor, with no takers. Ownership rights in leasehold properties remain with government agencies, such as estate office (EO), the municipal corporation (MC) and Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), while freehold status gives the owner complete rights to the property. The administration was being pressed to allow the sale of vacant and unsold leasehold plots as freehold repeatedly.
TENDER
After approval from the board in the morning, an e-tender was issued for the sale of 16 built-up units — all on a freehold basis. Of this, there were eight residential units and eight commercial units.
