Shop owners say different set of rules makes relief a FAR cry...

NEW DELHI: The sealing of over 500 commercial establishments in notified

local shopping centres

(LSCs) for misuse and non-payment of conversion charges has brought two anomalies to the fore. The floor area ratio, or FAR, for commercial establishments in LSCs is less than that for shops on commercial streets, even as the conversion fee to change the usage from residential to commercial is far higher for LSCs than for commercial streets.

FAR in the LSC at Defence Colony, for instance, is 180. But on the colony’s roads notified for commercial use in 2006, it is 300. A higher FAR allows greater use of total area on which the shop stands. Last month, the monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court sealed around 80 commercial units in Defence Colony for “misuse” and “non-payment of conversion charges”.

The oddity that Master Plan Delhi 2021 recognises LSCs as commercial centres, but allows FAR only of 180 was discussed by businessmen and municipal officials with lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on Monday. There are 106 notified LSCs in Delhi, a majority of them in south Delhi. “There should be uniformity in the norms governing all commercial units in the city,” insisted Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, Confederation of All India

Traders

. “The government must plug the FAR loophole.”

A senior DDA official explained that the development control norms are different for LSCs. “FAR is given to the entire complex. If all shops come together for redevelopment, they will be allowed extra FAR under current norms,” he said.

Shamsher Singh, former chief town planner of the south corporation, admitted to this Master Plan anomaly. “We pointed it out to DDA a few years ago. On notified commercial streets FAR is 300 because of the change from the previous residential use. But development in LSCs is guided by a standard plan that allows lower FAR,” pointed out Singh.

Conversion charges are another sticking point. While LSCs have to pay Rs 22,274 per square metre to change usage status under DDA’s December 2017 notification, shops on notified roads are required to pay only Rs 776 in A and B category colonies and lesser in lower category colonies.

Traders also pointed that commercial activity in basements in LSCs was not allowed unlike in those on commercial streets. Jagdish Gupta, general secretary of the Defence Colony Market Association, said, “We are clueless why 35 basements here have been sealed.”

South Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat said, “The FAR issue was not flagged by civic bodies earlier, but we recently broached it to DDA and have been assured a new notification will be issued within a week.” Sources in Delhi Development Agency agreed the land-owning agency had been asked to examine this aspect, but no clear decision had been taken.