Chennai: With the Madras high court banning the registration of unapproved layouts in Tamil Nadu, the revenue through registrations has plummeted to an all-time low and the state had incurred a revenue loss of about Rs 2,000 crore over the past two months. “On an average, about 1 crore people visit the registrar offices every year and with the recent ban, the footfall has dropped by nearly about 50 per cent and if the trend continues, the average revenue of the for the year fiscal 2016 –17 will be hit by 50 per cent”, a highly placed official said.
For the year 2015-2016, the registration department generated a revenue of Rs 8562.38 crore by registering 25,28,561 documents and in the current year from April 2016 to July 2016, over 8 lakh documents registered within the first four months generating a revenue of Rs 2732 crore. But from September the registration and stamp duty charges had reduced by at least 40 percent, the official added.
“I am finding it difficult to pay the salaries for my employees working in Tambaram and Padappai documentation offices. And if this trend continues, I will be closing at least one of my offices by December”, said advocate Almighty Kasthuri, who is into land documentations. “We are looking for some kind of amendment on the land registration issue and the real estate sector is badly hit”, the advocate added.
However, green activists welcome the recent ban of unapproved land registrations by Madras HC. “Under the pretext of development, forest buffer areas are converted into cultivation lands and fertile farmlands are converted into unapproved plots. Development, at what cost is the question that awaits an answer,” said wildlife enthusiast N. Balaji of Nature Trust, adding that there is a need to protect the barren and fertile land from the real estate lobby.
