Explained: How over 15,000 illegal colonies mushroomed in Punjab & how the sale-deed fraud is being done

Why are a large number of illegal colonies coming up?

The government bodies, including Improvement Trusts (ITs), the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has various organisations under it such as Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GALDA), Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA), Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), Patiala Development Authority (PDA) etc, are developing very less number of authorised or legal colonies against the actual requirement. This comes as an open invitation to private colonisers who start building illegal colonies to support the rapid urbanisation.

What are illegal colonies and who is responsible for them?

Apart from government colinies, which are carved out by govenment bodies, there are licenced colonies that are developed by private bodies by following all the norms set by the Housing and urban development Department.
Illegal and unauthorised colonies are those that are constructed by private developers without following the norms of providing mandatory basic infrastructure to the plot holders. They have no licence to sell plots but are anyway doing so. Several political leaders who are carving illegal colonies and putting pressure on government officials for registering sale deeds, government officials who park their money in such colonies and registrars, they all are responsible for this haphazard mess of illegal colonies Instead of preventing the fraud, all these people are now passing the blame.

Why are sale deeds taking place if these colonies are illegal?

The government is regularising these because people had brought plots and constructed houses over the years. Under special schemes in 2013 and 2018, the government faciliated colonisers and plot holders in such colonies by trying to regularise the practice in exchange of a fee to the government in the name of basic facilites such as water and sewer. However, even then, many colonisers didn’t apply for regularisation and several such colonies came up even after that. Now, the government is demolishing illegal colonies, buildings and is also recommending FIRs, however, this action is not as large as the number of these colonies.

What is the fraud committed in registering sale deeds?

Jimpa said that in such colonies two types of frauds are were committed. First, by the colonisers when they are selling the plots without mandatory basic amenities and in several cases, plot holders are awaiting possession for over a year. Secondly, the government is also being cheated as plots are being sold at different rate and this is causing stamp duty loss to the government exchequer. “If we probe all the registries of these colonies, the fraud could be estimated around Rs 1000 crores,” said Jimpa. Also, as the plots are being sold without NOCs, the fee against it is also not collected.

Why is NOC required to register sale deeds?

For selling plots in illegal colony, the government has put a condition that no registries will take place without an NOC from a completent authority. In the corporation limits, NOC is provided by the corporation/committees authority and outside it, NOC is provided by PUDA, its sister bodies and where PUDA doesn’t exist, the additional deputy commissioner urban development does the work.

What guidelines registrars need to follow and what happens if a sale deed is registered without NOC?

For regularisation of illegal colonies, the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act (PAPRA) was enacted by the state government in 1995 and an amendment was made to this in 2014. It is mentioned under the Act that no registrar or sub-registrar shall register sale deed or any other document regarding the sale of land or plot or building situated in a colony, which is not a license holder from the competent authority. Also some sections of both the Acts were creating confusion regarding registeries in illegal colonies.

“In 2018, the revenue department issued guidelines that an updated list of unauthorised colonies will be provided by the department of Housing & Urban Development and department of Local Govt., with NOC for registering sale deeds. But the letter was withdrawn in December 2019 saying that no requirement of NOC for property registration which was challenged in HC in 2021,” said Sukhcharan Singh Channi, General secretary, Tehsilar Association Punjab, adding that then the Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Punjab, passed a detailed Speaking Order on November 22, 2021, in compliance with the court order dated August 3, 2021.

Is there a solution to this haphazard urbanisation?

While on one hand, PUDA and other sister organisations need to crave out legal colonies to sustain the growing population, on the other hand, a policy is needed to stop illegal constructions.