Govt lowers rate of land use charges, makes amendments in scheme

Nishikant Khajuria

JAMMU, Oct 15: In a significant decision on the public demand, Housing and Urban Development Department has lowered rate of charges for change in land use by affecting some amendments in the scheme for levy of charges for use of land as permitted in the Master Plan or the Zonal Plan.
Giving major relief to the applicants, the Government has notified that the land use shall be now calculated separately for different use types if a given plot is to be used for more than one use type while the land value to be considered for calculating the charges will not be the highest value of the land for that usage type but the higher of the value of the land or half of the highest value, as notified for the current year under J&K Preparation and Revision of Market Value Guidelines Rules 2011 in the local area of that Authority.
Besides, a few other amendments have been made by the Government in the scheme for levy of charges for use of land and a Statutory Order (S.O) 518 has been notified in this regard in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970.
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As per earlier Statutory Order 439, issued on December 24, 2021, the charges payable for land use were to be calculated by considering highest value of land for that usage type (residential for residential usage type and commercial for other usage type) notified in the local area of that authority, area of the land in Kanals, maximum permissible FSI ( Floor Space Index) and use type ( residential, industrial or commercial).
For example, if the permission for change in land use was sought in respect of a plot of land for usage type as public/semi-public/residential and the notified value of this land for that particular use was Rs 40 lakh per kanal, then before calculating the applicable charges, it was first to be confirmed whether the highest notified rates for that particular usage for any land in the local area of that Authority was higher than Rs 40 lakh per kanal or not. The value used for calculating these charges should have been the higher of these two values.
However, after the amendment, the value used for calculating these charges will be the value of that land or half the highest value of land in the area.
Further, there was no provision of separately calculating the land use charges for different use types of a given plot if it was to be used for more than one use type i.e residential use, industrial or commercial use.
Following the amendments, it has been notified that the land use shall be calculated separately for different use types if a given plot is to be used for more than one use types.
In the case of mixed vertical development, the land area shall be proportionately divided between these different use types so as to match the proportion of the super built-up area of the completed development on that portion of the plot, meant for these different use types.
Further, no development charges shall be payable for change of land use for already approved colonies.
The significant amendments in the scheme for levy of charges for change of land use have come as a big relief for the people and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Jammu had taken up the issue when a CCI delegation, led by General Secretary Gaurav Gupta had met the Chief Secretary J&K last month.