Maha govt revises land lease policy for gymkhanas

The Maharashtra government today revised its land lease policy for gymkhanas that have been run by private players since the British period in Mumbai, its suburbs and across the state.
The move will not only increase the revenue of the state but will also resolve the running disputes between such gymkhanas and the government over the lease rents, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said after the Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The Cabinet has approved the policy.
The revised policy will be enforced with a retrospective effect from January 1, 2017.
As per this policy, gymkhanas are classified into three categories with varied rents, as per their areas of land.

While the land areas admesuring 20,000 sq metre have been classified in 'A' category, the land areas below 20,000 sq meter up to 10,000 sq metre have been placed in B category and those less than 10,000 sq meter in C category.

"The revised lease policy would be applicable from January 1, 2017 for those gymkhanas whose land lease was expired," Revenue department principal secretary Manu Kumar Srivastava said.
He said that a lease contract of gymkhana, henceforth, would be entered as per the revised policy.
A Revenue department official said there are ten gymkhanas in Mumbai alone whose land lease expired over the last two years.

"Without the lease policy, it was difficult to renew the lease of such gymkhanas," he said.
Under the revised policy, the rent would be charged on the 10 per cent of Ready Recknor (RR) rates.
For A, B and C categories, the annual lease rent would be 1 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively.
"The rent is proposed to be increased by 4 per cent each year. Under previous government, the rent was charged on 15 per cent of RR rates and that was objected to by many gymkhanas who had termed it financially non-viable. As a result, they had approached court and the matter has been pending for years. Now, we have reduced the rates and I am sure the problem would be solved," the Revenue minister said.

A total of 18 gymkhanas in Mumbai had been given land on the lease of 99 years or less during the British era.
The annual revenue from these places could not be increased until the lease period ended in 1999, 2000 and 2001.