The Union Cabinet on Monday decided to permit conversion of industrial and commercial property from leasehold to freehold in Delhi, Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar said.
Briefing reporters on the meeting, he pointed out that the conversion charges would be 10 per cent of the current rate. However, in case of the original lessee, the rebate would be 40 per cent.
For general power of attorney holders, the minister pointed out that 33.13 per cent of the conversion fee as surcharge would be levied.
He emphasised that conversion of any property encroaching upon public land will not be permitted.
According to Kumar, this decision would benefit more than 13,000 industrial plot holders and 10,000 commercial plot holders in Delhi.
"It is a citizen-friendly step by the government and citizens having leasehold industrial and commercial property will become real owners," he pointed out.
There would be hassle-free transaction once the properties got converted and "they need not go back to the Land And Development Office or the Delhi Development Authority for transactions," he said.
He said the government had permitted this facility for residential properties, and the results were good. Out of 53,232-odd properties, 23,163 were converted to freehold.
In DDA properties, out of 234,000, 76,802 had been converted, and 40,085 of 200,000 flats had been converted.
He said the DDA earned a revenue of Rs 455 crore (Rs 4.55 billion) from the conversion of leasehold land to freehold.
Later, answering questions, Kumar said that the conversion of residential properties was graded: from 7. 5 per cent to 50 per cent.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal to begin the process of ratification by Parliament for the SAARC Convention on Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution.
It also gave ex-post-facto approval for the extradition treaty signed between India and Ukraine. The treaty aims at suppressing crimes by ensuring availability of criminals for trial.
It approved a Bill for the constitution of a National Statistical Commission, with a part-time chairman at the helm.
It also approved a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with the Republic of Belarus. The broad intent of the agreement between the two countries is to promote and protect investments from other country into the territory of the other country.