Chandigarh, February 4: In order to crack down on the illegal colonies, the revenue department of Punjab has made NOC (No-Objection Certificate), from competent authority, mandatory for the registration of property across the state.
Asked why the revenue department is issuing the notification now on ban of property registration without NOC, financial commissioner (revenue) Vini Mahajan, said, “There were already provisions under the PAPRA regarding this. The revenue department order was issued to harmonise different acts of the state government.”
As per the notification, dated January 24, issued by the department to all deputy commissioners in the state, sub-registrars and joint sub-registrars of properties have been directed not to register sale and transfer deeds of properties in any colony without the NOC issued by the “competent authority in the housing department”.
The revenue department notification refers to the amendments made in the PAPRA (Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995) which put restrictions on the registration of properties in illegal colonies.
The notification reads, “Department of Housing and Urban Development has amended the section 20 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Act 1995 and in sub-section 3 of the section 20 it has been provided that, “no registrar or sub-registrar appointed under the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908, shall register sale deed or any other document regarding sale of land or plot or building situated in a colony, in respect of which licence has not been obtained from competent authority.”
Following up on the changes in PAPRA, the revenue department notification directs, “Therefore, sub-registrar/joint-registrars shall register sale or transfer deeds of plots or sites only after suitably satisfying themselves that the colony has been issued the licence on the basis of a “No-Objection Certificate” issued by competent authority in the housing department. You are, therefore, directed to ensure the compliance of the statutory provision with immediate effect, while registering sale and transfer deeds of plots and sites.”
Asked whether the notification covers only for the illegal colonies coming under the department of housing and urban development or it also includes such colonies under the municipal jurisdiction, Mahajan said the ban is intended to cover illegal colonies everywhere across the state.
This includes illegal colonies coming under different urban development authorities such as GLADA (Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority), and all the municipalities like Ludhiana municipal corporation.
A senior official in the local government department, who didn’t want to be named, said, “Banning registration of properties in illegal colonies under the municipal limits is very important as most of the illegal plots are located in the illegal colonies coming under the jurisdiction of these municipalities.”
The government estimates peg the number of illegal colonies around 7,000, but the actual figure might be double than that.
In December last year, chief minister Amarinder Singh set up a five-member cabinet sub-committee to finalise the legislation and policy for regularisation of unauthorised colonies. In 2016, the previous SAD-BJP government had brought the regularisation policy for unauthorised/illegal colonies but received tepid response from colonisers.
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