Why in news:

• In order to facilitate the speedy disposal of cases pertaining to regularisation of plots in unauthorised colonies, the Punjab government is in the process of announcing major amendments to the regularisation policy.

Key Points:

• The proposed amendments aim at regularising plots in unauthorised colonies where construction has taken place till December 31, 2022. There is, however, a condition laid out by the authorities that the execution of the sale agreement should have taken place before March 19, 2018. The proposed amendments also entail recovery of regularisation charges from individual plot holders in colonies where 25 per cent of the plots have been sold, besides initiation of legal proceedings against defaulting colonisers and recovery of dues from them.
• Sharing a draft of the proposed amendments with different departments involved in the regularisation process, the Housing and Urban Development Department has sought suggestions. Officially, there are around 14,000 illegal colonies in the state. The real figure is, however, believed to be higher than that which calls for a serious reconsideration of the existing policies.
• According to the concerned officials, due to multiple issues with the existing policy, currently, many cases of regularisation of plots and colonies are rejected. If the amendments are approved by the government, such cases may be reopened. Sources said there were many cases in which the sale agreements of such colonies were executed before March 19, 2018, but their physical existence could not be verified from Google images.
• Subject to approval by the government, such colonies and individual plot holders could be considered for regularisation after a physical verification that the property existed before December 31, 2022.
• In cases where a provisional regularisation certificate has been issued for a set of plots and the registry of the adjoining plot has also been done, it has been proposed that the final regularisation certificate be issued against the plot that does not have a provisional regularisation certificate subject to the payment of charges equal to the stamp duty by the beneficiary over and above the regularisation and development charges.
• For unauthorised colonies falling in the industrial and agricultural zones under the master plan of towns, it has been proposed that only those colonies may be considered for regularisation where the sale agreement has been executed before March 19, 2018, and which physically existed before December 31, 2022. It has also been proposed that the plot size to be considered for regularisation should be fixed at 45 sq yards instead of 60 sq yards as per the Central Government norms for EWS houses.