Gandhinagar (Gujarat): After the announcement of the implementation of the new 'Jantri rates' or the Annual Statement of Rates (ASR) for immovable properties by the State government, there was a lot of discontent from Builders' Associations and construction companies. However, the Bhupendra Patel-led government has taken a decision amid the Jantri uproar in favour of real estate and the public. According to this decision, the new Jantri rates will be applicable from April 15, postponing the increment in the rates substantially for now.
A Jantri rate or ASR is the minimum price set by the government for the purchase and sale of land or any property. Only if your sale deed is higher than the Jantri rate, you will be registered as the owner of that property in the government registers. The announcement of an increase in the Jantri rate and its immediate implementation from February 5 was met with protests by builders in the state.
A meeting was held between the builders' association, the Chief Secretary and the officials of the Revenue Department in Gandhinagar on Friday. The advisor to the Chief Minister also participated in the meeting. At the end of this meeting, a decision was taken that the new rates cannot be implemented at present. The builders in the state have pleaded that deals signed based on previous rates would be affected due to the immediate increment, cause problems with calculations and affect the customers as well. The State government has taken the decision to postpone the increase in rates in the public interest so that there are no differences between builders and home buyers.
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The demands of the builders to reduce the Jantri rates have not been accepted, but the deadline has been extended as a lot of families have booked houses and their documentation and registration are pending. Now, registering the houses as per the old norms within the time limit will provide relief to the families and make the transactions easy, as the hike has been largely suspended for the time being.
A few weeks ago, the State government had increased the Jantri rates on February 5 overnight in a meeting held in Gandhinagar. This meeting of the Builders' Association was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. After this, the Builders' Association demanded that this decision of the government be postponed and implemented from May 1. CREDAI's (Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India) Gujarat President Hemant Patel stated that they had a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the government has increased the prices overnight in Jantri (Circle Rates).
Their main aim was to postpone that decision and implement it from May 1, as the new rates may cause confusion among the customers because the deals have been carried out as per the old rates. This increment in the Jantri rate also increases the prices of the houses by 35 per cent. A 'Jantri' is a ready reckoner or circle rate, which is a legal document that shows the rate of land or property in Gujarat over a certain period of time, below which a property can't be registered. The Jantri value helps in determining how much stamp duty to pay and how much registration fee to pay while documenting the property.
