Soon, one-time settlement policy for ULB plot allotees

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 11

With crore of rupees pending as dues on account of non-construction fee and non-payment of enhancement in land compensation cases by hundreds of allottees in urban local bodies (ULBs), the Local Government Department has decided to bring a one-time settlement policy (OTS).

Local Bodies Minister Brahm Mohindra said the department had come across several cases in which the allottees were not paying the non-construction fee of the enhanced land compensation. “The issue came up for discussion during the meeting with the chairmen of improvement trusts. We are working on the policy,” said the minister. The meeting was attended by Raman Subramaniam, Chairman, Ludhiana Improvement Trust; Dinesh Bassi, Chairman, Amritsar Improvement Trust; Daljeet Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman, Jalandhar Improvement Trust; and Sant Lal Banda, Chairman, Patiala Improvement Trust.

The department has also decided to digitise the entire property record in the improvement trusts.

A senior official said a number of improvement trusts had pointed out that hundreds of property-related records were missing. In Ludhiana alone, over 400 property-related files were missing and in Amritsar 500 files were missing. The estate officers have been asked to give an undertaking about the missing records before carrying out digitisation.

In another development, the minister has decided to look into the demand of chairmen of improvement trusts to increase their financial power from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. The financial power is likely to be increased to Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.