Karnataka: Property guidance value revision on cards

Bengaluru: Contrary to the view that the guidance value of the property will not be revised due to adverse effect of demonetisation on real estate sector, the stamps and registration department plans to go ahead with a revision, though it is tight lipped on whether it would be upward or a downward one.

The silver lining is that for the first time in its history the department has decided to rationalise or correct the property guidance value revision.

Inspector General of Registration (IGR) Manoj Kumar Meena told Deccan Chronicle that as per the law the guidance value should be revised annually and the exercise will happen this time.

Not ruling out the negative impact on the registration department, Meena, however, said the guidance value revision will be scientific and anomalies will be set right.

Already, there is a Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) comprising people drawn from builders association CREDAI, Chartered Accountant Association, Architects association among others.

Meena said the decision on the guidance value will be based on the inputs from the office or sub registrar, CREDAI members and the public. In some cases, the guidance value may go down, if the public feel that is not in sync with the market value. The final decision on the guidance value will be considered in the next 20 to 25 days, he added.

“The department is already obtaining information from all the sub registrar offices across the state, including Bengaluru. This time the revision will be scientific and anomalies like high and low guidance value in some areas will be corrected. Objections and suggestions from the public too were obtained,” Meena said.

Initially when the demonetisation was announced, the department witnessed steep fall in the revenue earned by the Stamps and Registration department, which comes in the form of stamp duty, said Meena.

CREDAI Secretary Suresh Hari opposed the revision of guidance value. He said when the economy was limping back to normalcy such a move would affect recovery. Revision should not be for the sake of revision, it should be done scientifically and with rationale. Under the GST regime, the stamp duty should come down drastically, which is not happening, he rued.

A senior sub registrar said that there is a dip in registration of new properties, post demonetisation. However, in some cases where loans have been sanctioned, release and partition deeds are happening. The guidance value must be brought down to encourage the public to come forward to register properties, the sub registrar said.