Law enabling conversion of orchard land notified

NOTIFICATION
HIGHLIGHTS
1)
Depending on the area of land in respect of which change of zone is applied, an additional per square metre rate of fees will be levied for the conversion
2)
Conversion will be allowed from orchard to settlement, including to sub-zone of settlement (commercial)
3)
Lands will also be allowed to be converted to industrial and institutional zones
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PANAJI: The State government on Thursday issued a notification invoking powers under the Town and Country Planning Act specifying processing fees and rates per square metre for conversion of zoning of orchard land parcels to settlement, commercial and industrial.
The gazette notification issued on Tuesday by Town and Country Planning Secretary Daulat Hawaldar fixes Rs 5000 as processing fee for all applications for conversion of land zoned as orchard in the Regional Plan.
Depending on the area of land in respect of which change of zone is applied, an additional per square metre rate of fees will be levied for the conversion, according to the notification. Conversion will be allowed from orchard to settlement, including to sub-zone of settlement (commercial). Lands will also be allowed to be converted to industrial and institutional zones.
For land parcels up to 500 square metres no fees will be charged per square metre in addition to the Rs 5000 processing fee. However, for conversion to industrial zone an additional Rs 100 per square will be levied. This additional fee will be charged at the rate of Rs 50 per square metre for conversion to institutional zone, the notification said.
For land upwards of 500 and up to 1000 square metres, the processing fee will be Rs 7500 and the rate of additional fee for conversion to settlement and sub-zone settlement (commercial) will be
Rs 50 per square metre. It will be again Rs 50 per square meter for conversion to institutional and Rs 150 per square metre for industrial zone.
The notification also fixes the processing fee at Rs 10,000 for applications for conversion of land between 1001 and 2000 square metres and the fee change of zone to settlement or settlement (commercial) at Rs 75 per square metre. For change to institutional zone land parcels between 1001 and 2000 square metres will be charged Rs 50 per square metre and for conversion to industrial zone the fess will be at the rate of Rs 150 per square metre.
Processing fee will be Rs 15,000 for conversion of properties between 2001 and 5000 square metres and an additional Rs 100 per square metre for change of zone to settlement or settlement (commercial). For conversion to institutional zone the fee will be Rs 50 per square metre and Rs 150 per square metre for conversion to industrial zone.
For land parcels sought to be converted which are above 5000 square metres but up to 10,000 square metres the processing fee will be Rs 20,000. The rates of additional per square metre fee will be Rs 125 for settlement, Rs 100 for institutional and Rs 200 for Industrial zone.
Properties above 10,000 square metres but up to 20,000 square metres the processing fee has been pegged at Rs 30,000 and the per square metre additional fee will be charged at the rate of Rs 150 for settlement or settlement (commercial), Rs 100 for institutional and Rs 300 for Industrial zone.
A processing fee of Rs 50,000 will be charged for applications that seek to convert properties above 20,000 square metres. For these large properties, the additional per square metre fee structure will be Rs 200 for settlement or settlement (commercial), Rs 150 for institutional and Rs 400 for industrial.
This is the first time ever that the Government of Goa has specified per square metre rates for coversion of zoning of land marked on the Regional Plan. The earlier 2001 notification had only levied a one time processing fee for applications seeking conversion of zoning.
In the monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly, Town and Country Planning Minister, Vijay Sardesai had piloted an amendment to the TCP Act which inserted a section 16 (B) which gave powers to the Chief Town Planner to convert land zoning in the Regional Plan on a case to case basis.
The amendment was severely criticised by the Opposition Congress as well as civil society groups who alleged it was a via media to defeat the planning process envisaged in the Regional Plan.
The government however went ahead and passed the law in the Assembly which subsequently got the Governor's assent and was notified. Tuesday's notification sets in motion the process under that amendment and fixes the fees which will be charged for every application for land conversion.