PUNE: By the month-end the state government may review the ready reckoner rates, focusing on their rationalization. A hint is dropped by the senior officials that the state government might reduce the ready reckoner (RR) rates wherever they were on the higher side. The RR rates were not changed for the past two-and-a-half years.
It
has been said by a source that the rates had been reviewed and the fresh RR
rates could be issued shortly. The source has also said, “With the second
quarter of the financial year ending in September, the announcement is expected
by the end of this month for implementation from the third quarter,”
RR
rates are the prices of residential or commercial properties, and plots for a
given area, based on which their market value and stamp duty are charged. Every
year it is usually declared on March 31, but this year the state government
delayed its announcement because of the Covid-19.
Developers
further stressed that new rates would hold no significance if the review was
done before the Covid-19 outbreak. A city property consultant also said, “On
one hand, the government has announced a reduction in the stamp duty. On the
other, it cannot announce an increase in the RR rates. Against this backdrop,
the government should reduce the rates, which it can do.”
The national vice-president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (Credai), Shantilal Kataria, said: “The RR rates were kept constant for the past two years while it was supposed to be decreased because of the sluggish real estate market over the state both in urban and rural areas”.