ETRealty.com: Ahmedabad: Tuesday,
August 02, 2016.
The Gujarat
Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED), the apex body of realtors
in Gujarat, is mulling the idea of approaching the Gujarat high court to appeal
against the paid Floor Space Index (FSI) charge being levied on real estate
developers.
"We will
soon go to the Gujarat high court demanding the removal of paid FSI charges
collected by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the Ahmedabad Urban
Development Authority (AUDA)," said GIHED president Dipak Patel. For paid
FSI, developers have to pay charges at 40% of the prevailing jantri (ready
reckoner) rates. Earlier, the paid FSI charge was a lump sum of Rs 1,000 per sq
m for residential properties.
"The
authorities started charging paid FSI at 40% of prevailing jantri rates over the
past three years despite the fact that there is no provision to do so,"
Patel said.
"We have
also filed an RTI query to determine under which section of the Town Planning
and Urban Development Act-1967 the current charge of paid FSI is being
levied."
Real estate
players say that higher paid FSI adds up to construction costs and ultimately
the burden is passed on to consumers. Developers get free FSI for 40% of land
deducted by authorities for infrastructure development such as roads under any
town planning scheme. They have to pay a premium for additional FSI under the
permissible limit and that FSI is called the paid FSI.
"Going
by the 40% of jantri rates, paid FSI works out to be Rs 6,800 per sq m in an
area where prevailing jantri rate is Rs 17,000 per sq m," Patel said.
"This charge is quite high compared to previously levied charge of Rs
1,000 per sq m."
Talking about
the other problems faced by builders in Ahmedabad, GIHED officials lamented
that the fact town planning schemes are not being approved and finalized on
time. "Of the 108 town planning schemes announced, around 60 are pending
approval while 48 have received only preliminary approval," said Sandip
Patel, the secretary of GIHED.
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