Punjab: Property owners are rushing to register their properties due to the government’s planned changes in policy.

Punjab: As the January 31 deadline approaches for registering plots and flats in cooperative housing societies in individual names at a concessional stamp duty rate of 1 percent, property owners are struggling to complete the process, while the government’s policy is still undergoing “modifications.” Government sources said the government is likely to amend the policy to make the registration prospective rather than retrospective, as announced when the policy was issued last November. The revised policy is expected to be presented before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday, where petitions challenging the retrospective application of the stamp duty are pending.
Sources said the Cooperation Department, which formulated the policy, had initially considered levying a one-time charge of Rs 1 lakh on all beneficiary property owners. This proposal was later dropped after deliberations. The policy has sparked resentment among cooperative housing societies. Most of the nearly 600 cooperative housing societies in Mohali, representing approximately 50,000 property owners, have stated that societies in Punjab had been exempt from mandatory registration and stamp duty for decades. Members argue that the retrospective withdrawal of these exemptions has forced them to revalidate titles acquired under a tax-free system and effectively pay stamp duty twice – once at the time of registering the title and again at the time of sale. Meanwhile, hundreds of owners are queuing up daily at tehsil offices to meet the deadline. Since the implementation instructions reached the district deputy commissioners only in mid-January, several societies have submitted representations to the Chief Minister’s office seeking an extension of the concessional period.