Chandigarh, Aug 28 — Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday announced a waiver of stamp duty on the registration of residential plots up to 50 square yards in urban areas, up to 100 square yards in rural areas, and on houses allotted under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Mukhyamantri Shahri Awas Yojana, and Mukhyamantri Gramin Awas Yojana.
Speaking in the Assembly during the concluding sitting of the monsoon session, Saini responded to a calling attention notice moved by INLD MLAs Aditya Devilal and Arjun Chautala regarding the “steep hike in collector rates of land and plots in the state.” The chief minister rejected the charge and accused the Opposition of “spreading doubts and false information” to mislead the public.
“Beneficiaries of these housing schemes and holders of small plots will no longer be required to pay stamp duty,” Saini declared, adding that the revised collector rates would not adversely affect buyers or sellers.
Defending the government’s policy, he pointed out that between August 1 and August 20, the state had collected ₹723 crore in stamp duty. “The farmers are still asking the government to further increase collector rates,” he said.
Saini maintained that an increase in collector rate does not raise the market value of property. “It is actually the rise in market rate during a year that necessitates revising collector rates to prevent loss of revenue to the state,” he explained.
He noted that stamp duty has been levied at 7 percent for men (including a 2 percent development fee) and 5 percent for women since 2008, and those rates remain unchanged. He said the real issue was not the increase in collector rates but individuals conducting land transactions through black money to avoid paying stamp duty.
“Revision of collector rates is a routine and transparent process, conducted annually in accordance with prevailing market prices,” the chief minister said. He also recalled that collector rates had been raised regularly during the Congress government’s tenure as well.
A written reply tabled in the House stated that the system of revising collector or circle rates every year from April 1 is intended to check undervaluation of property at the time of registration and prevent consequent loss of revenue. The revision is based on the average increase in rates at which properties were sold during the previous year.
The government further explained that before 2017, deputy commissioners at the district level were responsible for reviewing and revising collector rates. Since then, the work has been shifted to the state level to ensure uniformity across districts.
“The aim of this change was to establish parity in rate revisions across the state through application of uniform principles,” Saini told the House. “My government has made the process transparent and fair. The revision of collector rates is now directly linked with the actual increase in property registration values.”
