#RealtyNewsRoundUp: May Take A While Before Real Estate Comes Under GST

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the states are not in favour of bringing petrol, diesel and real estate under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the moment, ruling out any immediate levy of the new indirect tax on these products. He further said that natural gas and property market could be brought in the ambit of GST at a later stage. "So far, the mood of most of the states is not in favour of including it (in GST) at the moment. But I am sure as the GST experience moves on, I think, natural gas, real estate, these are areas which are to be brought in and then probably at some stage, we will keep trying for petrol, diesel and potable alcohol," Jaitley said on February 5.

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A special inquiry committee of the Delhi Assembly probing the ongoing sealing drive has sought a list of properties sealed during the exercise that started in December last year. The committee had summoned the commissioners of three municipal corporations who appeared before it on February 5. The direction was given as it has come to light that some properties were sealed by the civic bodies "without any specific direction" from the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee that is overseeing the drive.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has castigated the civic authorities for "keeping their eyes closed" and waiting for disaster to happen, questioning the Delhi Development Authority on its proposals to change the city's Master Plan 2021. Hearing a matter related to the sealing drive, the apex court said it appeared that the DDA was "succumbing to some pressure".

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The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Hotel Leela Venture Ltd and asked it to pay Rs 258 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as royalty for possession of its property near the Mumbai International Airport. The dispute relates to the 11,000 square metre of land, which was leased to the Hotel Leela in February 1996 for a period of 30 years for adding a wing of 150 rooms to the existing hotel.

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The Punjab government has cleared a policy to provide gas through pipeline for every kind of usage to the urban population in the state. In Phase-I, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib and Rupnagar will get gas supplying through pipelines. The work in this regard has already started.

Source: Media reports