CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (
CBM), the
apex body of traders in city, has written to the UT administration to reduce misuse charges for building violations in city.
Charanjiv Singh,
Chairman, CBM, said they have submitted to the administration to reduce misuse charges, as these are on the higher side.
The UT administration, on the other side, had recently issued a public notice and had sought objections and suggestions of public on misuse charges.
As per new public notice, the UT administration had proposed to reduce penalty for violation in Industry from Rs 500 per sq feet per month to Rs 36 per sq feet per month. Presently, the Chandigarh administration is charging a penalty of Rs 500 per sq ft for misuse and violations, which was strongly opposed by traders, industrialists and even political parties.
The city businessmen had even challenged the penalty in Punjab and
Haryana high court.
The UT estate office had increased the penalties for misuse and violations of building bylaws in 2007 from Rs 10 to Rs 500 per sq feet per month for the area being misused by the occupier. Later, the administration started sending notices under the new rules, which triggered panic among property owners as the amount of penalties ran in crores in many cases.
In 2007, the administration increased the misuse penalty from Rs 10 to Rs 500 per square feet per month, without Parliament amending the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act, 1952.