The Hindu        15.03.2011

MCD to penalise illegal farmhouses, hike charges

In a bid to rein in illegal farmhouses in the Capital being put to commercial use for weddings and other social functions, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is planning to levy a penalty on them and also hike the booking charges for such events in registered farmhouses in its area.

A proposal in this regard would also be tabled at the meeting of the MCD Standing Committee on Wednesday following the MCD Commissioner's earlier suggestion to hike the rates.

According to the proposal, farmhouses below 0.5 acre but not exceeding 2.5 acre would be charged Rs.20,000 as against existing rate of Rs.10,000.

For plots above 2.5 acre but not exceeding 5 acre, the charges would be Rs.40, 000 as against the current charge of Rs.20,000. Farmhouses over five acres would have to pay Rs.1 lakh.

In addition, illegal farmhouses would now have to shell out a penalty of 10 times the amount of rent charged on them for bookings by the MCD. Consequently, illegal farmhouses paying a rent of Rs.20,000, Rs.40,000 and Rs.I lakh depending on their area would now have to cough up a penalty of Rs.2 lakh, Rs.4 lakh and Rs.10 lakh respectively.

According to MCD Standing Committee chairman Yogender Chandolia, about 1,500 to 2,000 farmhouses are presently running illegally in about six of the MCD's 12 zones including Central Zone, South Zone and Civil Lines and Narela Zone. “Only about 50 odd farmhouses have registered themselves with the MCD and have been regularised rest all are running illegally due to a nexus involving officials and the police. To check this we have decided to impose a tough penalty on owners of such farmhouses based on their area.”

“The problem in Delhi is that since there are not enough community centres to hold weddings and other such functions so people are forced to host them in farmhouses. Since we cannot stop that from happening by sealing these farmhouses we can at least try to charge them a hefty penalty to increase the MCD's revenue and also encourage their owners to get their farmhouses registered,” he added.