PUNJAB GOVT ALLOWS PROMOTERS TO SURRENDER LICENSES IF UNABLE TO DEVELOP COLONIES

Chandigarh, October 17, 2018: The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday approved a policy to allow promoters to surrender their licenses in case they are unable to develop colonies or complete development works in colonies. The policy was necessitated in view of the difficulties faced by such promoters, according to an official spokesperson, who said these promoters will now be able surrender the licenses issued to them under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, subject to certain conditions. Section 5 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, provides for issuance of licenses to promoters for developing colonies. If a promoter fails to comply with the conditions of the license issued to him, the license may be cancelled under provision 5 (12) of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995. However, due to slump in the real estate sector, some promoters were unable to develop colonies or complete the development works in the colonies, and they wanted to surrender their licenses but could not do so, in the absence of any provision or policy. A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Administrator (F&A), PUDA, with Engineer-in-Chief Town Planner, Punjab, Senior Town Planner, GMADA, Legal Advisor, PUDA and Estate Officer (Policy) as members, to examine the matter. Meetings were held by the committee members who came to the conclusion that many promoters were willing to surrender licenses issued to them in respect of their colonies. Giving details of the new policy , the spokesperson said that the surrendering of license would be allowed in cases where the promoter had not sold/allotted/leased out any plot/apartment and not undertaken any development works at the site of the colony. The promoters will submit an affidavit attested by an Executive Magistrate assuring that no sale deed/allotment/lease deed for any plot/apartment/villa/house has been executed in the said colony. In cases where the promoter has sold/allotted/leased out any plot/apartment, the promoter will obtain irrevocable consent from the allottees/plot holders/apartment owners in the form of affidavit attested by an Executive Magistrate regarding no claim on the said property. However, if any construction has been raised in the licensed colony, the same has to be demolished by the promoter first, restoring the land to its original form, to the satisfaction of the competent authority. The spokesperson said that before surrendering the license of the colony, a 30-day public notice, inviting objections from the public, will be got published by the competent authority, the cost of which will be borne by the promoter, in two national daily newspapers having wider circulation in the locality. If any objection is received after publication, the authority will take appropriate decision after hearing the parties concerned. The charges deposited by the promoter on account of Change of Land Use, license fee, SIF will not be refunded. The promoter will be solely responsible for any legal claims/liabilities in case he/she has availed any bank loan etc. on the basis of license. Before issuance of approval for surrender of license, the promoter will submit an affidavit, duly attested by an Executive Magistrate, declaring therein that he/she will not sell any plot sub dividing the land under the colony without obtaining requisite approval/license from the competent authority, failing which legal action will be initiated under the appropriate provisions of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995. The approval for surrender of license will be uploaded on the website of PUDA/Authority concerned for information of General Public. PUNJAB GOVT DECIDES TO AMEND INDUSTRIAL POLICY TO GIVE INVESTMENT INCENTIVE ON INTRASTATE SALE In a bid to boost industrial development in the state, the Punjab Cabinet has decided to amend the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017 to give investment incentive by way of Net SGST on intrastate sale, and has also given its nod to global tendering for the upcoming hi-tech Cycle Valley on a 100-acre industrial park in Ludhiana. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. The Cabinet noted that since the government could not give direct concessions to industry in matters of land acquisition etc, other incentives should be provided through amendment to the policy so that both the state and the industry get the best deal through measures such as global tendering. The Cabinet observed that for effective implementation of the policy there was need to explicitly define and explain the term 'Net SGST Incentive'. A series of meetings/consultations were held amongst departments of Excise & Taxation, Finance, Industries & Commerce and Investment Promotion. After deliberations, a detailed formula for different eventualities was finalized in the meeting under the chairmanship of the Finance Minister. According to the new formula, incentive amount would be calculated based on output IGST (or CGST+SGST), that would be called GST rate for formula. Overall quantum and/or period for claim of incentives shall remain same as defined in IBDP-2017 (as amended from time to time) for the respective category. Availing of incentives up to the overall ceiling i.e. 200%/125%/100% of FCI, as applicable, shall depend on the capacity utilization of the unit during the eligibility period. The incentive under the present policy would only be applicable for such investment proposals where Common Application Form has been submitted by March 31, 2020. The spokesperson said that this formula would be subject to various conditions. In the case of a unit with multiple outputs having more than one GST rate, the incentive amount shall be calculated pro rata to the respective sales (value as defined in GST law) of eligible outputs. If the amount calculated as above is less than 2.5% of the FCI in any particular year, the unit will be entitled to get such difference as the additional amount of incentive, subject to the fact that it has been able to achieve sales of three times of the FCI. For example, if the GST incentive for a unit with FCI worth Rs 100 cr and sales of Rs 310 cr in a FY comes to Rs 1 crore in the FY, the unit shall be able to get an additional amount of Rs 1.5 cr as incentive. The unit operating for a part of the year of the incentive period will get the amount on pro rata basis, with the requirement of sales being three times of FCI also applying on a pro rata basis. With respect to the cycle valley to be developed in Dhananshu village of Ludhiana district, as per an earlier decision of the state government, the Cabinet decided that the 100 acres of undeveloped land would be allotted through an objective, open, competitive and technical bidding process to a well-established company of international repute. The State Government has drawn up objective evaluation criteria to ensure fair and transparent selection of the big anchor unit and also to provide equal opportunity to the prospective bidders that would bind the successful bidder to comply with their commitments projected in their proposal, according to the official spokesperson. The selected project company would be responsible for the development of the entire industrial park in the allotted land. It would develop its own Anchor Unit in 50 acres and in the remaining 50 acres the Company would invite major national and international manufacturers as ancillary and/or vendor units. Pertinently, the PSIEC has drawn an ambitious plan for implementing the project of Cycle Valley and the lay out plan of the project has already been finalised and approved by the competent plan approval committee. Historically, industrial growth of Ludhiana city relies on Cycle and small scale manufacturing industry, and the idea behind the creation of the envisaged Industrial Park is to create an eco-system for hi-tech bi-cycles and engineering products, which will boost the Ludhiana cycle industry. Giving details of infrastructure to be created for the industrial park, the spokesperson said that to further facilitate industry in Ludhiana, the state government would construct a 8.8 km road linking Hi-Tech Cycle Valley to the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway. CAPT AMARINDER LED CABINET APPROVES NEW SAND AND GRAVEL POLICY TO CURB ILLEGAL MINING & BOOST REVENUE To bring further transparency in the sand mining business, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved several major policy changes to enable the government to grant contracts by auction of mining blocks in strategically established clusters through progressive bidding instead of the earlier process of auction by individual mines. The move would help substantially increase the royalty receipt of the State Exchequer, provide adequate supply at fair price to the consumer, and curb illegal mining. The decision came during the Cabinet meeting held today under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. It was decided that the new policy would come into force two months after the Cabinet approval to the Punjab State Sand and Gravel Policy, 2018 and amendment to the Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013, according to an official spokesperson. It has also been decided that the Department of Mining would launch an online Punjab Sand Portal for sale of sand to all consumers, small or medium. All transactions/payments will be captured through online real-time monitoring system. The sale of sand would be controlled by electronic documentation linked to central documentation, with modern facility, and the daily progress report would be uploaded on the portal. Notably, during 2017-18, four progressive bid e-auctions of minor mineral mines were held. Due to speculative bidding in these auctions, it resulted in a significant number of mines being auctioned at very high prices. However, many of the contractors failed to operationalise these mines, which led to dearth of supply of sand and gravel, causing the market price of these commodities to remain high. This was followed by consultations at various levels, including at the level of the Chief Minister. Based on these, the department had prepared a draft policy viz. 'Punjab State Sand and Gravel Policy, 2018' and corresponding amendment in Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013 and Agreement Form L-1. Elaborating on the salient features of the new policy, the spokesperson said that the mining rights of concession quantity of sand and gravel in Mining Blocks identified by a process would be put to bidding through transparent e-auction process. Only registered companies, partnerships, societies including cooperative societies, sole proprietorships, individuals and consortia of up to three such entities would be eligible to bid, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. The average annual turnover of the bidder during the last three financial years ending 31st March must not be less than 50% of the reserve price of the Mining Block he bids for. In the case of Consortium, the combined technical and financial capacity of all the members shall be considered for the eligibility. Further, the bidder shall provide an undertaking to ensure the presence of Site Manager(s), a JE level officer (Diploma in Civil/Mechanical/Electrical Branches preferably) and Software professional(s) at all mines. The bidder should either own or provide an undertaking that he will obtain or hire the requisite machinery for the Mining Block he plans to bid for and the policy has given a detailed set-up of machinery required for different level of capacities of mines. The new policy provides for the quantity of sand and gravel, to be called 'Annual Concession Quantity', that the concessionaire shall be allowed to mine per annum from a block as detailed criteria given for seven blocks of the state. The estimated available quantity in each block is however indicative and it would be the responsibility of the bidder to make his own assessment of it before bidding. The concessionaire would be responsible to identify the mines in the block allotted to him, obtain consent of the land owners, arrange for all infrastructural requirements like a right of way and obtain all clearances before the starting of mining operations. The concessionaire would intimate Chief Engineer Drainage seven day in advance when a mining is to be carried out in river bed so that it does not affect the flow of river or damage embankments. The authorities have been directed to provide environment and other clearances in a time bound manner and for this purpose Executive Engineer at the Headquarter would act as a nodal authority. The spokesperson said that to check overpricing of sand and gravel, a cap has been put on their sale price. Both sand and gravel shall not be sold by the concessionaire at the mining site at more than Rs.9 per cubic feet, which includes cost of loading on the vehicle. The maximum rates linked to distance that can be charged per cubic feet for transportation of sand and gravel will be notified. The maximum rate of sand and gravel chargeable from the end customer will in no case exceed the sum of above said two rates. It would be the responsibility of the concessionaire to dispatch sand and gravel through only those transporters who agree to transport it at so notified or less rates. Violation of agreement would result in its cancelation and forfeiture of the security amount given by the bidder. The policy has given detailed reserve price of all the blocks. The spokesperson said that it would be mandatory for concessionaire of each block to notify rates of sand on the new portal to be launched by the department, and the summary of online order, quantity of available sand at mine would be available on the portal. Online orders could be booked through divisional mining office or sub divisional mining office, and mobile app for booking orders would be launched soon. All vehicles to be used in transportation of sand would also be registered on Sand Portal, and each mine would have an electronic weigh bridge integrated with Central server. As per policy weighment slips for transportation of sand with features like barcodes, QR codes will be stamped with the date and time, and vehicles would be tracked with the GPS/RFID tags. The policy also mandates geo-tagging of all mines while conducting physical inspections, and boundaries of mines would be checked using coordinates recorded by GPS device and the monitoring team would be able to check whether any mining activity is going on outside the permitted area or not. The mines which are currently auctioned would continue to operate till the completion of their tenure and shall be excluded from the mining rights to be auctioned under the policy, the spokesperson clarified. CAPT AMARINDER LED CABINET APPROVES ENHANCED RESERVATION FOR WOMEN IN ROTATION FOR TOP PANCHAYAT & ZILA PARISHAD POSTS The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the enhanced 50% reservation for women in the matter of rotation for the office of Panchayat Sarpanch, as well as Chairperson of Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishad. The ordinance shall be submitted to the Governor of Punjab within seven days of Cabinet approval, an official spokesperson said after the meeting. The state government, led by Captain Amarinder Singh, had enhanced reservation for women in these bodies from 33 to 50 percent last year. The cabinet has now okayed amendment to "The Punjab Panchayati Raj Act 1994" and "The Punjab Reservation for Office of Sarpanches and Gram Panchayats and Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishad Rules, 1994". As per the ordinance, the principle of rotation for the purpose of reservation of offices under sections 12, 102 and 106 of 'The Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, would commence from the first election to be held after commencement of the Act. Following the publication of census, the number of directly elected members/chairmen and vice chairmen of Panchayat Samitis and rotation for reservation of seats and offices for different categories will be determined on the basis of population of panchayat samiti area at the census, and rotation of seats and offices will be made at the time of every general election. This rotation would be subject to condition that determination of number of seats and offices will not affect existing composition of the Panchayat Samitis until the expiry of term of office of elected members then in office. After the commencement of Act 12 of 2017, the first reservation for the offices of Chairmen/Vice Chairmen of the Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis would be made in accordance with the provision of Rule 4 and 5. In the subsequent elections, all newly created constituencies would be bunched together at the end of unreserved constituencies of last roster. In accordance with the principle of rotation reservation in subsequent elections will start from first non-reserved constituency in this roster in the order Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Caste Women-Women. The remaining constituencies would be unreserved. In another decision, the cabinet also decided to insert provisio in Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume-I, Part-I, rule 4.1 in sub rule(1) after the second provisio, regarding pay fixation on new appointment, when already in service of Punjab Government. As per the amendment, when a government employee at the time of new appointment is in the service of Punjab government and holds lien on his previous post, he shall, during the period of his probation on new post, be entitled to the pay, not exceeding the pay he was drawing on that earlier post, on which he held lien. The cabinet also approved the annual administrative report on the defence services welfare department for the year 2017-18. PUNJAB GOVT EXTENDS UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVER TO 43 LAKH FAMILIES, SIGNS MoU WITH CENTRE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PMJAY Punjab on Wednesday became the first state in the country to provide universal health cover, extending its insurance cover to Rs. 5 lakh per year per family to all the eligible 43 lakh families in the state, while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) for 14.96 lakh families. With this, the Congress-run state government has fulfilled a key poll promise to the people of Punjab. Captain Amarinder Singh described it as a historic moment that would bring health care within the reach of every needy person in the state. It may be recalled that the Punjab Cabinet, in its meeting held on October 3, had in-principle approved merger of the state-run health insurance scheme Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana (BPSSBY) with PMJAY, while extending the existing cover of Rs. 50,000 per year per family to Rs. 5 Lacs per year per family to all the eligible 43 lakh families in the state. It had also decided to extend the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna, which was to expire on 31st October, 2018, upto 31st December, 2018. The MoU with the Centre was signed today in the presence of the Chief Minister by ACS Health Satish Chandra, on behalf of the state government, with CEO Ayushman Bharat Dr. Indu Bhushan. Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Brahm Mohindra said the state government would take further such steps to strengthen capacity building in the health sector so as to enable all its citizens to avail timely and efficient health care services. He reiterated Punjab’s demand for 90:10 ratio in the Centre:State sharing formula, given the sensitive border location of Punjab. Dr. Bhushan hailed the state leadership for going beyond the central initiative to extend health insurance cover to the majority of the state’s population. In response to a suggestion for a new name for the various schemes being merged, it was decided to take a final decision next month. Giving details, an official spokesperson said the state government would, at its own cost under the State Health Insurance Programme, cover 28.20 Lakh more families including Blue card holders, J form holders, construction workers, small trader families, thus bringing a total of 43.16 lakh state families under the ambit of its health insurance cover including 20.30 Lakh blue card holder families covered under the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna. The central scheme, to be launched on January 1, 2019, would include 14.96 lakh families in the state entitled as per ‘socio-economic caste census’ (SECC) of 2011. The cost of the scheme shall be shared between the Government of India and the State Government in the ratio of 60:40, for which estimated State’s share works out to about Rs. 65 crores, whereas Rs. 97 crores would be contributed by the Government of India. A pilot would be launched in three government hospitals before the official launch on January 1, according to an official spokesperson. Simultaneously, the remaining 28.20 Lakh families would include 20.30 lakh poor blue card holder families, currently being covered under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna (BSSBY), at an estimated cost of Rs. 220 crores to the State. In addition, 5.66 lakh J-Form holder farmers, 1.22 lakh construction workers, and 1.02 lakh small trader families would also be covered at an cost of Rs. 86 Crores, which would be borne by Punjab Mandi Board (Rs.62 crores), Construction Workers’ Welfare Board (Rs.13 crores) and Excise & Taxation Department (Rs.11 crores). In all, the State Government would be spending a total of Rs. 285 crores, including its share of Rs. 65 Crores for the Central scheme and Rs. 220 Crores under the state scheme. Accordingly, PMJAY and the State’s own Scheme shall be covering a total of 43.16 lakh families out of 61 lakh families in the State i.e. 70% population of Punjab for cashless and free treatment upto Rs.5 lakh. If State, Central Government and Defence employees, who are already covered under various Government schemes are also added, then the coverage would go upto 82%. Those present at the event included Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Deputy CEO Ayushman Bharat Dr. Dinesh Arora, Mission Director NHM Amit Kumar and Chairman PHSC Amardeep Singh Cheema. PUNJAB CABINET APPROVES INCREASE IN STAMP DUTY RATES TO MOBILISE RESOURCES In a move to mobilise additional resources for the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday Singh approved an ordinance to amend Schedule 1-A of Indian Stamp Act, 1899, to enable increase in the stamp duty rates. Stamp duty rates for 17 items stand to double following the amendment, which the Cabinet found to be essential to boost the revenue receipts of the state. Punjab currently raises Rs 50 crore from stamp duty, which would go up by Rs. 100-150 crores with the increase in rates. The Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, noted that the new rates were higher than those of neighbouring Haryana but found it imperative to increase the rates to generate the much-needed revenue for the state. The Cabinet also noted that the last revision in the rates was done in 2009. The ordinance would now be sent to the Legal and Administrative Affairs Department for its finalization and later to Punjab Governor for its approval. In another decision, the Cabinet gave its ex-post facto approval with regard to appointment of Controller Governor's Household, Punjab Raj Bhawan, allowing the post to be filled on contract basis in relaxation of rules that provided for direct appointment. The Cabinet also approved terms and conditions for the appointment done on contract basis. The Cabinet granted its approval to Group-B Service Rules, 2018, of Punjab Financial Commissioners' Secretariat. Notably, the Personnel department, on the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, had approved the inclusion of officials drawing a grade pay of Rs.3800/- to Rs. 4900/- in Group B Service. In view of this, the Financial Commissioners' Secretariat Group B Service Rules, 2018 have been framed so that necessary conditions for service of these officials can be implemented.