Former union minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal has assailed the Chandigarh administration’s proposal to charge a hefty 50% of the existing collector rate for conversion of allotted leasehold industrial and commercial properties to freehold, and 25% of the collector rate for properties sold through auction.

In a statement, Bansal said that the formula worked out for the conversion of residential leasehold land tenure into freehold land tenure provides a just and reasonable guideline for industrial and commercial properties as well, whereas the present proposal would render the scheme a mere Faustian bargain.

He reminded the administration that the high collector rates presently in force for industrial and commercial properties will also ensure adequate revenue, if that be the objective of the administration. The proposed rates would, on the other hand, tantamount to an arbitrary and unreasonable levy on the buyers who had already paid heavy amounts as per the value of the rupee at the time of allotment or auction, he said.

Bansal further said that conversion charges for residential property are calculated on a graded basis at rates varying between 7% and 25% of the notified land rate per square meter for different sizes of plots. This provides a just scheme while the present proposal for the conversion of industrial and commercial properties smacks of profiteering by a government that swears by creating an environment of “ease of doing business”.