Former Union Minister and ex city MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal came down heavily on the Chandigarh Housing Board for fixing the processing fee ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 plus GST for conversion from lease to freehold for different types of flats/ plots. He said the processing fees should be removed and the earlier price of Rs. 25 should be fixed for the sale of forms.

While the UT Administration is yet to fix the exact conversion charges for flats, the CHB has already started selling forms for the purpose for Rs 1,180 (Rs 1,000 plus GST). Over 200 forms have been sold so far.

The former MP asked that Could this be termed as plain ‘loot’ or exploitation of the innocent people. A form that was sold for just Rs. 25 about three years ago, is now available at an exorbitantly high price - of Rs. 1180 (Rs 1000 + GST) by Chandigarh Housing Board for the conversion of residential property into leasehold/freehold?

He further said that, Besides, the application form, the CHB has fixed processing fee ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 plus GST for different types of flats. When the conversion charges were already set to be hiked 100 times, what was the need to demand more money through high processing fee?

The CHB has fixed processing fee ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 plus GST for different types of flats. Over 40 applicants have already deposited the forms with the revised processing fee. If anybody wants conversion under the Tatkal scheme, the charges are around Rs. 46,000. The application form was available for Rs. 25 three years ago. The forms are being sold by striking down the old price on these.