Mohali: HC strikes down GMADA’s charges on land transferees
Preferential location charges were also imposed on transferees who bought property from original allottees under Punjab govt’s 2013 land pooling policy
The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) cannot impose preferential location charges on transferees who purchased land from original allottees under the 2013 land pooling policy.
Allowing a bunch of 118 petitions filed by transferees, the HC bench of justices Sureshwar Thakur and Vikas Suri stated that a perusal of the land pooling policy issued by the Punjab government, vide notification dated June 19, 2013, and the brochure of the allotment scheme floated for Sector 88-89, Mohali, by the government and other respondents, made it clear that there was no such condition of charging “any extra amount” on account of preferred location charges.
Under its 2013 land pooling policy, the Punjab government had provided residential and commercial land as compensation for property acquired for development projects. The policy levied a preferential location charge (PLC) on allottees who chose land different from what was originally intended for them. GMADA further imposed this charge on transferees who purchased land from the original allottees, which formed the basis for the petitions seeking its removal.
In its order, the bench noted that the respondents and allottees were bound by the terms and conditions of the land pooling policy and the allotment scheme brochure, which formed the foundation for the letters of intent issued to the original allottees, making these contractual obligations inviolable.
“Both the original allottees and their transferees do stand on a co-equal footing and there cannot be any distinction between the original allottees and their transferees nor there appears to be any well-founded intelligible differentia having a nexus with the objective sought to be achieved,” the bench added.
Allowing the writ petitions, the court quashed the PLC charges imposed by GMADA, while directing it to refund any such charges deposited by the petitioners within two months, along with simple interest at 6% per annum from the date of deposit.
The court also ordered the authority to deliver encumbrance-free possession of the plots to the petitioners within two weeks and execute the conveyance deeds within a fortnight.
