Kerala has approved a recommendation made by a Cabinet sub-committee to revise upwards fair value of land by 50 per cent.

The State Cabinet took the decision this morning to approve the recommendation, which would bring in additional revenue of ₹500 crore, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here.

Ceiling Removed

Currently there is a ceiling of ₹1,000 on stamp duty for registration of partition, gift, release and settlement deeds.

Now, one per cent duty on value of property would apply to partition and release deeds and two per cent on gift and settlement deeds without any ceiling.

The ceiling of ₹25,000 on registration fee of one per cent is also withdrawn. The Cabinet did not entertain demands for a review of these revisions in stamp duty.

Similarly, the hike proposed in land tax (150 per cent) and plantation tax (100 per cent) will also stay, the Chief Minister said.

Additional Revenue

These were part of the resource mobilisation measures proposed earlier, to raise additional revenue of a little more than ₹2,000 crore, a figure that beat the original Budget mobilisation target of ₹1,500 crore.

In another decision, the Cabinet approved a proposal to utilise more of rubber bitumen for road-surfacing, which is expected to improve the demand for rubber in the State.

The decision was taken considering the plight of rubber farmers in the State who are in dire straits after prices have collapsed in recent times.

Flex Boards

The Cabinet also agreed to ban flex boards in the State by law. Initially, those flex boards which do not carry required licences from the concerned local-self government body would be removed.

The Chief Minister said that those featuring him and colleagues in the Cabinet would also be removed in this phase.

Action on the rest would be taken as and when the contracted period ends, Chandy added.

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