I have a plot that I want to give to a promoter to construct a residential building. The promoter has given a draft agreement, sanctioned by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, offering me 40 per cent of the total floor area ratio (FAR). Can you clarify what FAR means. Am I getting a fair deal?

Sisir Banerjee

Floor area ratio governs the extent of development permissible on a plot and is calculated on the width of the access road to the land on which the property is coming up. The norms are mentioned in the building bylaws of the city.

For roads less than 10 metres wide, the FAR would be less than 1. The maximum FAR permitted is 2.5.

For height relaxation, the CMC charges five times the normal rate of building sanction fee, and for a relaxation of FAR, the sanction fee is 10 times the normal rate.

The sanction fee works out to Rs 52 a square foot for residential projects and Rs 100 a square foot for commercial buildings. However, the CMC does not allow indiscriminate increase in FAR.

It is up to you whether you are happy with 40 per cent FAR. Please find out if you will get your share from the sale of the common area and parking space. You can consider going for a revenue-sharing model, in which you get a percentage of the revenue the developer generates from the plot, instead of the complex FAR process.

My flat was completed in 1999. In my opinion, the property tax fixed by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was exorbitant. I approached the CMC commissioner but he did not intervene. Then I went to the municipal tribunal, which reduced the tax by as much as 40 per cent in August 2004.

Between 1999 and 2004, the CMC had collected tax at the inflated rate. Following the tribunal’s verdict, I have been visiting the CMC’s Gariahat office and sending one reminder after another to all officers concerned, including the mayor, to whom I sent five letters. But I haven’t got a single reply.

What should my next course of action be?

Prabir Kumar Ghosh

You have not mentioned whether the CMC had accepted the verdict of the tribunal. If it had, you have strong case. However, it is not mandatory for the CMC to accept the judgment. If the CMC has not accepted the verdict, you have little choice but to move court.

You can meet the CMC chief manager (revenue), Aniruddha Mukherjee, and discuss your problem.

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