Patna, March 15: The state cabinet approved the Khas Mahal Policy 2011 in a meeting held today.

According to the new policy, all lease related to Khas Mahal land would now be renewed for a maximum period of 30 years. Prior to the new policy there was no such lease time limit in place and many pieces of Khas Mahal land in the past were of 90 years duration.

Khas Mahal land is a category of government land where the ownership of the land remains with the gov- ernment and it is leased out to individuals for various purposes.

The new policy, said a highly placed state government source, has also linked the lease renewal fee and annual fee of such pieces of land to market prices.

“For a person who has not violated the lease term, the lease renewal fee (popularly known as Salami) would be five per cent of the market price of the land and the annual fee would be 0.5 per cent of the market price of the piece of land,” said the source.

He said in case of those who violated the lease terms, the renewal fee would be 10 per cent of the market price of the piece of land.

Another decision taken in the meet was related to the health check-up scheme meant for regular health check-up of children up to14 years.

The cabinet gave it a formal approval.