No free lunch: Illegal to legal houses will cost money

SURAJ NANDREKAR

suraj@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The BJP government just ahead of elections has come up with an ordinance to regularize unauthorised structures on private land. However, apart from obvious questions being raised on the decision itself, the regularisation will not come for free.

However, nearly 20 days after the ordinance the government’s Revenue Department has no knowledge of “regularisation” as no rules have been framed.

Officials say over 30,000 to 40,000 unauthorised houses in Goa, will be regularised as a “one-time measure of relief” with one-time fee/penalty for the house owners.

However, the common man will definitely feel the pinch if he/she wants to get the illegal structure regularised.

According to the ordinance, the owners will have to pay entire taxes of conversion fees, infrastructure tax, occupancy fees plus the construction licence fee, besides a penalty of five per cent on the total amount.

If one calculates, to regularize an illegal house of 100 sq metres, you may end up paying taxes of approximately around Rs 1 lakh.

While the ordinance says that the owners must get their structures regularised within 180 days of notification, it has been almost 20 days but no details are available with the TCP or the Deputy collectors.

“The designated nodal officers are yet to be notified,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

According to Under Secretary Revenue Ashutosh Apte there have been no rules framed as of now and there would not be in future too.

“The regularisation would be carried out by the designated office on a case-to-case basis. For this, rules may not be required to be framed,” he said. However, he added, “We need to notify the nodal officers first and the ordinance needs to be converted into an Act.”

Asked about how the illegality of setback etc would be handled, he said it would be looked into on a case-by-case basis. “The nodal officers in each taluka would be experienced persons who have served as quasi judicial authority, who have first hand knowledge of these things,” Apte said.

When pointed out that the taxes to be paid could be much beyond the common man’s reach, he said, “We will give them option of 50 per cent payment upfront and the rest after the formalities are completed.”

When contacted NGPDA chairman Michael Lobo, who is also the MLA of Calangute which is said to have highest number of illegal structures, said, “The rules will be needed to be framed first. There has to be an amendment to the TCP Act on relaxation to setback.”

He also said that the government will have to look into the relaxation of fees for regularisation as it would be too much to pay at one time.