Construction To Get Easy As UP Govt Waives Royalty On Soil Digging

For digging soil in Uttar Pradesh, you will not have to pay a royalty anymore ─ a move that may speed up construction work in cities falling under the purview of the national capital region (Noida, and Ghaziabad) and state capital Lucknow. The move might also bring down the cost of property slightly.  

Under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Mining) Rules, 1963, the state government has been charging Rs 30 per cubic metre for digging soil since January 2016. While the move helped the state earn about Rs 500 crore during that period, farmers, individual land owners and real estate developers complained of harassment.

The monetary burden on farmers, however, was immense, and greatly affected output. Land owners, who wished to construct homes, have to go through the same drill. Real estate developers were responsible for making the right calculation. A great deal of manpower and equipment had to be employed for the purpose. The royalty payment made the process even costlier. It is worth mentioning here that all this cost will be ultimately passed on to buyers.

Giving in to the demands of the affected parties, the state government on March 23 amended the rules to waive the royalty. This means farmers, along with plot owners and real estate developers can heave a sigh of relief.

In 2014, the Supreme Court had ruled that authorities cannot impose mining royalty on developers for excavation of land for laying foundation of a building because it is not similar to mining operations.

“A blanket determination of liability merely because ordinary earth was dug up would not be justified; what would be required is a more precise determination of the end use of the excavated earth; a finding on the correctness of the stand of the builders that the extracted earth was not used commercially but was redeployed in the building operations,” the SC had said at that time.