JOIN USHUDA policies draconian, say residents
In less than a year after the residents of five sectors in new Gurgaon got recovery notices from HUDA to pay enhancement money, hundreds of them recently got a second notice to pay Rs 5,797 per square metre before January 15 next year.
Residents in sector 42, 43, 57, 27 and 28 have been served notices by the estate officer-2 of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).
Sushil Chopra, a resident of sector 42, has been asked to pay Rs 7.82 lakh for his house spread in an area of 135 square metres. Similarly, a sector 43 resident S K Burman has been issued a notice for Rs 7 lakh while a similar notice was served in February this year to pay Rs 9 lakh.
“If the property’s matter was in court then why did HUDA issue non-encumbrance certificate which allows the property to be used for any freehold purpose and certifies it to be free of any legal liability,” said Burman.
There are close to 6,000 houses in five sectors where these notices have been issued.
A plot owner Captain (retd) Aman Sethi in sector 43, who resents HUDA’s notices, says, “How can a middle-class person arrange Rs 16-17 lakh all of a sudden. And if we don’t pay in one go, then we will be liable to pay interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum.”
Despite the plot owners’ lamenting this, real estate experts believe that residents, even after paying the enhancement money, will remain in profit.
“The buyers may have to pay Rs 5,700 per square metre now and Rs 4,400 per square metre for the earlier notice. But the actual price is now more than Rs 50,000 per unit.
They may not have so much money in cash but there is always an option to pay in instalments,” says Anckur Srivasttava, a private real estate consultant on Golf Course Road.
Huda officials also echo the same sentiments. “If residents feel they are cheated, will any one of them come, return their plots and ask for refund of their paid money. They will not, because what they paid to HUDA (Rs 4,500 per unit in 1996) was much less than the market price,” said a senior HUDA official in estate office-2.