Nagpur: The state cabinet on Tuesday approved conversion of all nazul plots of Vidarbha into freehold, ending the decades old system of leasehold land. The premium for conversion has been finalized at 5% of ready reckoner value for residential plots and 10% for commercial and industrial land. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has fulfilled a long pending demand of thousands of lease holders, which even he had raised when in opposition.Now, revenue and forest department will issue a notification in this regard. Owners of nazul plots will have to submit an application to respective collector offices and pay premium to make their land freehold (occupant class-I).Fadnavis told TOI, “It was a long standing demand from plot holders to declare their plots freehold. Today, government took the decision, which will be beneficial to entire Vidarbha.”The cabinet has made the conversion to freehold optional for lease holders. If anyone does not wish to make his nazul plot freehold, he/she can continue with existing leasehold system.Thousands of people from nine districts of Vidarbha will benefit from the decision. The city has 10,973 nazul plots on which big, medium and small flat schemes came up. All plots in Dhantoli, and a majority in Congress Nagar, Ramdaspeth, Dharampeth, Gadga, and a few in Civil Lines, Jaripatka, Indora etc are nazul plots, which are known as collector plots in other parts of the state.Ruling party leader in NMC Sandip Joshi, under whose ward maximum nazul plots are situated, said it is a historic decision which will make life of thousands of people hassle-free. “Now, nazul plots owners will become absolute owners of the land. They will not have to run pillar to post for sale, purchase, construction, mortgage of plot or flat for loans etc. Also, they will not have to pay ground rent every year and penalties,” he said.Activist Swanand Soni said all lease holders will avail the new provision as premium for residential is fixed at 5%. “We thank Fadnavis for freeing us from draconian policy of British period. For the first time, nazul plots were allotted on lease in 1906. It means whoever got the lease in 1906 has been paying ground rent for 113 years and had no absolute rights on their land. Majority of nazul plots were leased out between 1971 and 1975. Plots were on lease despite people paying premium higher than market value for their plots,” he said.Soni added freehold land will end mandatory provision to renew lease every 30 years. “People, especially flat buyers, were in a big trouble due to condition of renewal. If one of the umpteen flat owners denies support, the lease of entire flat scheme used to be affected. This used to place people in urgent need of renewal of lease in trouble,” he said.The demand for freehold land gained momentum in 2011 when the government increased ground rent by 1,000 times. In 2014, the government reduced the ground rent to 100 times. But the demand for freehold continued.However, the premium is higher than that in place in other states. Six states had declared freehold policy for nazul plots with premium of 1%.The cabinet note says premium collected from freehold will be spent on providing basic amenities to people of the state.The policy will affect state’s exchequer to some extent. From city’s nazul plots, collector office used to get ground rent of over Rs1.50 crore every year. Also, the collector will have no powers over nazul land now.What Is Nazul Land: The state government owned land allotted to people either through public auction or by inviting applications. In majority of cases, people paid at the rate of ready reckoner value, while in some cases at nominal rate. First lease in city was given in 1906 and most leases were between 1971 and 1975Freehold Benefits:* Lease holders were to pay 0.04% of ready reckoner value as ground rent every year, which will end* No need of lease renewal after every 30 years* Lease holders will not require collector’s permission for sale, construction, division of plots, mortgage for loans etcWhat Next: Revenue and forest department will issue notifications. Owners of nazul plots will have to submit application to respective collector offices and pay premium of 5% of ready reckoner value for residential plots and 10% for commercial and industrial landFuture Problems: Lease holders will have to clear dues of penalties and ground rent for converting land into freehold. Also, lease holders will have to follow entire process in case of mutation, change of user from residential to commercial or industrial, division of plots etc

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