Times News NetworkPanaji: The cabinet on Wednesday approved the Mhajo Flat scheme to resolve disputes affecting thousands of flat owners stuck in legal issues with land owners, builders and developers that prevent transfer of flats in their names.Chief minister Pramod Sawant said govt will amend three laws and bring an ordinance to enable ownership transfer, including changes to stamp duty, so transfers can be done by paying only Rs 10,000.“Stamp duty changes have been made to reduce it to a nominal rate, like Rs 10,000. Mhajo Flat Scheme is an umbrella initiative of Goa govt to safeguard the interests of thousands of flat owners, secure housing rights, facilitate the re-development of ageing housing complexes, and address long-standing issues of ownership faced by individual flat owners and societies across the state,” said Sawant.He said the core problem is the lack of conveyance — transfer of ownership of land and buildings — by builders, owners, or developers to individual flat owners or co-operative housing societies.“There are a large number of instances where co-operative housing societies themselves have not even been formed or registered at all. Wherever they have been formed, in many instances, the land and buildings have not been conveyed by the owners, builders, or developers to the said co-operative housing societies. Now, govt will step in and allow the conveyance to be signed,” said Sawant.He said the scheme will reduce insecurity over housing rights, address delays in the redevelopment of old and unsafe buildings, and reduce additional financial burdens during transfer.The departments of co-operation, revenue, and registration will coordinate to resolve issues under the initiative, Sawant said.Suitable amendments to the Goa Cooperative Societies Act, the Indian Stamp Act (Goa Amendment), and the Registration Act, 1908, will be brought in, said Sawant.“As part of this initiative, govt proposes to incentivise ‘deemed conveyance’ through an amnesty scheme for a one-time registration of a deemed conveyance through an amendment to the Indian Stamp Act (Goa Amendment) and an appropriate notification under Section 9 of the Act reducing the stamp duty to a nominal value, and also an appropriate notification under the Indian Registration Act fixing a nominal value as registration fee at only Rs 10,000 for the registration of the ‘deemed conveyance’,” said Sawant.The provisions are intended to enable flat owners to obtain legal title through deemed conveyance and undertake redevelopment, if they choose, in a structured and transparent manner. The initiative is meant to benefit housing complexes constructed before the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, came into force, Sawant said.
