Post-revision land prices highest in Dehradun

With the latest revision in the circle rates for the purpose of evaluation of stamp duty by the Uttarakhand Government for Dehradun...

With the latest revision in the circle rates for the purpose of evaluation of stamp duty by the Uttarakhand Government for Dehradun, land in the city has become the costliest in the country. The revised rates came into effect from November 1.

The circle rate for stamp duty for the Rajpur road area of Dehradun has been hiked from Rs 13,000 per square meter to Rs 50,000 per square meter. Similarly, rates have also been hiked for other areas in the city and for rural areas.

As per the Stamps and Registration Act, the state Government gets stamp duty on the registration of property, which is calculated as per the real market value of the property. The state Government also revises the circle rates every two years. “The rates are revised by the respective district magistrate on the basis of the survey done by the revenue officials and prevailing market conditions,” said Alok Kumar Jain, Uttarakhand Finance Secretary.

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Anyone buying property in Rajpur road area will now have to pay a stamp duty of ten per cent on a minimum of Rs 50,000 per square meter of land purchased. “Someone buying a 100 square meter of land has to pay a minimum stamp duty of Rs 5 lakh. Any buyer buying one bigha of land in the area will have to pay Rs 40 lakh as stamp duty as the land has been valued at Rs 4 crore,” said Ranjit Singh Aswal, a prominent builder in the city. The decision to increase circle rates led to panic among buyers.

“During the last three days in October, stamp papers worth more than Rs 16 crore were sold in Dehradun city and more than 700 land transactions were registered,” said Vinod Kumar Suman, Dehradun Additional District Magistrate. “The aim of the state Government is to check the rising prices of land in the city,” said Jain, adding that the target is to raise Rs 465 crore from stamp duty during the year. “We have achieved half the target already,” he said.

After taking over the reigns of the state, the BJP Government has tightened the land laws. The right of the outsiders to buy property has been curtailed from the earlier permissible maximum limit of 500 square meters to 250 square meters. Builders and realtors, however, predict gloomy future of real estate. “The earlier decision to curtail the size of the land that can be bought by outsiders has resulted in a near slump in business and now the massive hike in circle rates and resultant stamp duty would definitely harm real estate business,” said Subhash Sharma, a land realtor.

“The decision would only help the rich. It would be difficult for the common man to buy land.” The decision has evoked strong political reactions. Suryakant Dhasmana, state president of the NCP has criticised the move saying it would make it impossible for the poor to buy land in Dehradun. He threatened to launch an agitation if the state Government failed to reconsider its’ decision on circle rates.