Imagine buying a house, waiting for it to be completed, paying registration duty, and then waiting for a couple of more years to actually get it registered.
This is what residents of Prateek Laurel Apartments in Sector 120, Noida, were protesting against on Saturday at the society's entry gate.
They said they have been waiting for three years to get the registry of their flats done, despite having paid registration duty on time. If their properties were not registered by the end of the month, they would have to cough up more money because of hiked stamp duty from April 1.
With March drawing to a close, and Holi and Easter holidays round the corner, their agitation is now growing.
The group said that the only way to draw the attention of the authorities to the issue was to protest every day from 11 am to 5, till their demand was met.
SL Srivastav, a resident, said his flat was yet to be registered with sub-registrar's office and that he would have to pay an additional Rs 2 lakh as stamp duty if the registry was not done by March 31.
Residents have already written to Chairman and CEO of Noida Authority Rama Raman, and the district administration, saying 750 families of Prateek Laurel Apartments would suffer for no fault of theirs.
Sandeep Singh, president of the apartment owners’ association (AOA), told City Spidey that the process was initially delayed because of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposing a ban on registry due to non-compliance with green norms. “But that is no longer a problem,” he added. “Noida Authority has given completion certificates to the society a couple of months back. So what is their excuse now?”
