Govt. set to revise land value from August 1 to bring parity with market values

State government revises land market values to prevent revenue loss, focusing on areas with potential for development.

The State government has decided to revise the market values of lands in different categories from August 1.

The Registration and Stamps department has issued detailed guidelines to the sub-registrars in this direction. Th exercise comes in the light of the significant difference between the values fixed by the government and actual market values prevailing so as to ensure that the government did not lose the revenue due to it from the land transactions.

The development assumes significance as Registration and Stamps department has been a major source of revenue to the government, but he department fell short of achieving the target set for it in the previous financial year. As against the target of ₹18,500 crore fixed for 2023-24, the department ended up with ₹14,295 crore, falling short by over ₹4,000 crore.

The guidelines lay special emphasis on fixation of values in villages abutting national and State highways or those with potential for non-agricultural activities like plotting, housing, industry and SEZs. “These villages have to be given due importance in the revision since they are likely to have higher market values,” Registration and Stamps Inspector General Navin Mittal said in the guidelines.

The exercise should be done “very carefully” and abundant caution should be exercised in collecting correct information relating to open market values from various sources. “Land acquisition compensation, open auctions by revenue/cooperative officials, bank may be used to find the trends,” the guidelines said, directing the officials concerned to cross check and arrive at a relatively nearer prevailing market value for various classifications. They should also verify the present guideline value with that of prevailing open market values in the process.

In respect of urban areas, the guidelines made it clear that a single value be fixed for the entire locality (residential) and commercial values should be fixed for properties abutting main roads. “For the sake of convenience, streets/colonies may be clubbed under the official locality but in no case different values shall be fixed.” If there was glaring difference in the development leading to variation in prevailing values, sub-sets could be created which could be distinctly identifiable. “It shall not create any ambiguity in adopting the market value,” the guidelines said, adding that slabs could be reduced when the difference between them was not substantial.

Market values of properties situated on either side of a particular road should be uniform even though they are falling in different jurisdictions. In respect of newly added villages or part of village in municipality/corporation, the market values to be fixed should reflect ground reality.