The federal government has for the fourth time extended the policy for the transfer of old grant lease properties to regular lease for a short-term period in 44 cantonment boards across the country, including Rawalpindi and Chaklala.
Sources privy to the development said it will not be possible for residents of these dilapidated properties to pay millions of rupees in the name of surcharge, due premiums, development charges and ground rent.
They said the government has so far regularised 250 residential and 150 commercial old grant leases in Rawalpindi through this policy, which has issued in 1996 and has since been continuously extended, while the number of such properties is in the thousands within the boundaries of the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments.
Declaring the fourth extension as the final one, the authorities concerned have issued a warning to confiscate the properties in case of failure to obtain regular leases. The policy has been extended from January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.
Sources also said a year has already passed since the policy was extended and, practically, only five months of extension has been accorded.
According to the revised policy, for regular leasing of old grant lease residential property of up to five marlas, a token premium of Rs100 while 10% of the deputy commissioner rate as development charges and ground rent of Rs2 per square yard have to be paid.
Similarly, for the regular leasing of an old grant lease residential property of more than 5 marlas, 20% of the DC rate as premium charges, 10% of the DC rate as development charges and Rs2 per square yard have to be paid as ground rent.
Further, for commercial property, 40% of the DC rate has to be paid as premium charges, 10% as development charges and Rs4 per square yard as ground rent.
On the other hand, for illegal commercial use of the old grant residential lease property, the property holder has to pay 100% of the DC rate as premium charges, 10% as development charges and Rs4 per square yard as ground rent.
Apart from this, a surcharge of 5% per annum has to be paid from 2010 for the regular lease of all types of old grant lease properties, the sources said.
It should be noted that in 20 wards of the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards, there are thousands of residential and commercial old grant lease properties that were built before the creation of Pakistan.
They said the owners are not allowed to repair the said buildings due to which they have become dilapidated.
Likewise, paying millions of rupees for regular leases of these buildings is beyond the capacity of these property owners.
In the past, the old grant lease policy was extended for five years, while this time, the policy has been extended for one and a half years only.
However, its release has been delayed so much that the remaining period after the release of this policy is only five months. Due to this, it will not be possible for the citizens to convert their leased properties into regular leases and pay heavy expenses under the old grant lease policy.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2023.
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