The ban orders are aimed at checking mushrooming of illegal colonies, which is often blamed on connivance of officials with the land sharks and colonisers. (Representative Image/File)With revenue officials pointing out that there was practically no way to know the legal status of a plot or house for which registration has been sought, the government has now started an elaborate exercise of identifying khasra numbers of chunks of land in the illegal colonies in Punjab.
The exercise will help the revenue officials implement in letter and spirit the ban ordered by the state government on registration of sale deed of houses and transfer of ownership in illegal colonies.
On May 24, the revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management department directed all registrars, sub-registrars, joint sub-registrars and divisional commissioners in the state that no sale deed or any other document regarding sale of land or plot or building situated in a colony that does not hold a license from the competent authority, would be registered by them. The revenue officers have also been asked to ensure that the transfer of ownership, after resale of house is not done.
The ban orders are aimed at checking mushrooming of illegal colonies, which is often blamed on connivance of officials with the land sharks and colonisers.
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The revenue officials, it is learnt, have written back to the government stating that when they dealt with documents related to sale deeds in their offices, it was impossible for them to know whether the plot or house was in an illegal colony.
“Now, we have started collecting khasra numbers of the illegal colonies. These would be supplied to the revenue officials, who can then cross-check data before proceeding with registration process,” said a government official.
The government’s ban order is being seen as a major step. “If the houses cannot be registered or resold, then people will not buy property in such colonies,” the official said.
The order issued on May 24 stated: “Punjab is facing the menace of illegal/unauthorised colonies. In recent years thousands of illegal/unauthorised colonies have mushroomed in the state. This is not only a huge revenue loss to the state but also a fraud being inflicted on the people of Punjab. These illegal/unauthorised colonies are resulting in haphazard urbanisation in the state, where residents suffer problems due to the lack of basic infrastructures like electricity, road, drinking water, sewerage system. Another dimension of this fraud is that many times people who spend their life time saving to buy a small plot, do not get possession of their plot. This happens because the illegal coloniser sells the hissa (share) of the colony which otherwise has been kept reserved for the open areas like streets, parks and other amenities.”
It further states, “This mushrooming of illegal/unauthorised colonies cannot happen without inaction and negligence of the government machinery. No official of the revenue department, local , housing and urban development department can feign ignorance about the mushrooming of illegal/unauthorised colonies in their jurisdiction.”
The order also mentions the law governing the mushrooming of illegal colonbies by saying, “The Registration (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2020 Notification No. 25 -Leg/2020, dated 10.12.2020 says:
’19-A(1) (c) The Registering Officer shall refuse to register any instrument relating to immovable property, specified by the state government, by notification, the alienation or transfer of which has been prohibited under any central or state Act. After this amendment, all Sub Registrars/Joint Sub Registrars are duty bound to ensure implementation of section 20(3) of PAPRA, 1995. The Section 20(3) says “No Registrar or Sub Registrar appointed under the provision of the Registration Act, 1908, shall register sale deed or any other document regarding sale of land or plot or building situated in a colony, in respect of which license has not been obtained from the competent authority.”
The officials have been asked to ensure “that there is no registration of any instrument of transfer of ownership in any unauthorised colony ensuring strict compliance of legal provisions.”
The department of housing and urban development has been asked to notify the lists of authorised and legal colonies in their jurisdiction with landmarks of the area. In rest of the areas, no objection certificates would be asked for by the Sub-Registrar. The department will also ensure that the field officers remain vigilant about the mushrooming of illegal colonies.
The local bodies department has been asked to ensure to notify the lists of authorised/legal colonies in their jurisdiction where NOCs are not required and will not be asked for by the Sub-Registrar.
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