BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Thursday authorised the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to issue certificate required for conversion of leasehold land to freehold. Earlier, the power was with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
In a notification, the General Administration (GA) department said, considering the expertise and manpower available with the BDA, the agency has been allowed to issue certificates in place of BMC.
“Accordingly, applicants - both pending and new - will be required to apply for the certificates before the planning member, BDA. The planning member will issue the certificates after verifying necessary documents within 15 days,” the GA department stated.
The state government had in June this year asked the individuals who were leased out land by the GA department for residential purpose and seeking its conversion to freehold, to submit certificate issued by the competent authority like BDA or BMC citing that their building construction was without any plan deviation or deviation within the permissible limit or compounding of plan deviation.
Subsequently, the order had been revised asking the applicants to obtain the certificate from BMC.
The state has also announced reduction in conversion fee for land leased out by the GA department in favour of different persons for residential purposes from existing 10 per cent to three per cent.
Conversion fee will now be assessed at three per cent of benchmark value where the building has been constructed as per the approved building plan without any deviation.