BDA plans to ease land resale policy

BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has come out with a standard operating procedure (SOP) that promises to allow resale of property that had been earlier allotted by it, within 30 days of filing an application to the BDA.
The standard operating procedure has been created to facilitate what the BDA calls 'hassle-free transfer of allotted plots' from one person to another. This process, until now, would commonly take years. The owner of an allotted piece of land would have to obtain a 'no-objection certificate' from the BDA before selling the property - a process which involved rounds of running physically from one section of the BDA to another for a clearance for resale.

BDA officials said each section concerned in the BDA that which deals with land records have now been given a stipulated time to provide clearance so that the entire process is completed within no more than 30 days. "The allotment branch of the BDA will have to carry out a verification of the application within three days of it being filed. The development authorities will then have to publish a proclamation notice for the resale of the property within 10 days. Within seven days, everyone, including the owner and the third party to whom the property will be sold to, will have to attend a meeting with the BDA in person," said the standard operating procedure.

If an application is rejected within the due time, the BDA will have to intimate the reaons to the land owner within the limited time frame itself, says the SOP.

A source at the BDA said there are more than 15,000 BDA-allotted lease holders in the city. "The process has been simplified because landowners keep trooping into the BDA's office. At times, unruly situations are created and office work is hampered. The SOP will ensure a smoother flow of files as each officer concerned has been given a fixed time to complete his task," said a senior officer of the BDA.

For the allotment of new property, the BDA has set a deadline of 10 days from the date of submitting the application.