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Want to purchase a plot on the outskirts of the city? First, seek a land conversion certificate from developers as it is mandatory to get permission for construction of a house or a commercial space.
In a startling revelation, as many as 341 layouts have sprung up on agricultural land. Developers had illegally converted farm land for non-agricultural purposes, particularly housing plots, without informing revenue authorities.
The Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) department conducted a survey in 14 villages of Maheswaram mandal and found developers had evaded land conversion fee, to be paid to the state government, to the tune of Rs 72 crore.
The V&E authorities have recommended stringent action against the developers by invoking the Revenue Recovery Act to collect the fee.
With skyrocketing land prices, especially on the outskirts of the city, farm land was being converted into layouts and sold to people by dividing them into plots.
But, as per the Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Land (Conversion for Non-agriculture Purpose) Act, 2006, any developer converting agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes should pay 10 per cent of the basic value towards conversion fee. For instance, if one acre of agricultural land is converted for non-agricultural purposes, the developer has to pay Rs 10,000 towards conversion fee to the revenue department.
If the land has already been converted for non-agricultural purposes illegally before January, 2006, they would have to pay five per cent penal amount apart from the conversion fee. The fee can be paid to the revenue divisional officer of the concerned revenue division.
The vigilance wing conducted a survey in 14 villages—Nagaram, Nagireddypally, Gollur, Manikyammaguda, Mansanpally, Pendyala, Meerpet, Dubbacharla, Ghattupally, Tummalur, Maheshwaram, China Toopran, Subhanpur and Akanpally.
These villages were selected as a large number of layouts have sprung up here in recent times.
According to sources, the highest numbers have come up in Nagaram village where 98 layouts were developed and the estimated amount evaded by the developers was about Rs 15 crore.
Similarly, 53 layouts were developed in Mansanpally village and none of these developers paid the conversion fee of about Rs 17 crore.
Land conversion fee evaded in Tummaluru and Pendyal villages was estimated to be at about Rs 10 crore in each village for 20 and 25 layouts respectively that came up in these villages.
"The 341 layouts were developed on about 2,270 acres. The illegal layouts could be more in other mandals of the surrounding areas of the city,'' a vigilance officer told 'STOI'.
The vigilance wing reportedly recommended that the revenue divisional officer (East), Ranga Reddy district, should collect the conversion fee from the developers, who converted the land into layouts, with the penalty or recover the land under the Revenue Recovery Act by instructing Maheswaram mandal revenue officer (tahsildar) if they did not pay the fee.
The vigilance wing suggested to the Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) not to issue permissions for layout without the mandatory land conversion certificate.
SOURCES:
Times Of India
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