GUWAHATI, June 18 � Asking the State Government to rationalise the taxation on immovable property, the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers Association (AREIDA) has said that due to heavy burden of taxes and high registration fees, real estate developers of Assam are facing many problems.
Addressing the media here, association president PK Sharma said that the stamp duty in Guwahati is 8 per cent and the registration charge is 8.5 per cent, which is highest in India. Moreover, same rates are charged for completed apartment and vacant land, whereas the state governments across the country have accepted the fact that rates of stamp duty and registration cannot be same for land sales and apartment sales.
In a memorandum to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the association members have appealed that the rate of registration fee should be maximum Rs 500 per sale deed and combined burden of all taxes for sale deeds be kept within 5 per cent of the cost of property.
Also expressing its displeasure at the process of statutory approval, it said that measures should be taken to protect the honest applicants from the onslaught of unscrupulous officials and a fixed time should be set for granting or rejecting the statutory approvals.
�The present procedure is cumbersome and extremely harassing for the applicants,� said Sharma adding that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has withheld hundreds of applications for over a year without citing any legitimate reason.
On the recent drives of the Corporation against the buildings which failed to furnish occupancy certificates, the AREIDA said that, though the provision of occupancy certificates is there in the building byelaws, yet there had been no system of issuing occupancy certificates in practice, in the past. �If the authorities make it a rule to obtain occupancy certificates for new buildings, everyone would comply, but one cannot furnish a certificate, which was never given to him or her,� Sharma added.
The AREIDA also said that most of the available land in suburbs is agricultural land and its conversion to residential/commercial/industrial use is not being allowed. �At a time when the government insisting that builders should move to the rural suburbs, clear-cut policies relating to land acquisition should be formed by the government,� Sharma added.
