Penalty clause in DDA housing scheme relaxed

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has relaxed the forfeiture clause of its new housing scheme, deciding that no penalty will be charged if houses are surrendered within 15 days of allotment. Earlier, according to the rules of the scheme, there was a penalty of 25 per cent if buyers surrendered the house after allotment. 

“We had seen in the past that many potential buyers were afraid to apply for the scheme because of this penalty clause. We went to the lieutenant-governor with our recommendation of removing the clause and he approved it. We hope that this decision will encourage more people to apply for the scheme,” said a senior official of the DDA. 

In view of the new rule and for getting more applications, lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal also agreed to extend the deadline for the scheme by a month, till September 11. The scheme was launched on June 30 with over 12,000 flats for sale. Till last week, the DDA had received nearly 9,000 applications. These include 87 HIG (high-income group) flats, 404 two-bedroom MIG (middle-income group) flats, 11,197 one-bedroom LIG (low-income group) flats, and 384 janta flats. 

The official also said that earlier several banks, which were not ready to give loans due to this clause, have now changed their mind. In the coming few weeks, the Delhi Development Authority will set up some new counters for registration for the potential buyers. “I am happy that this clause has been removed. Many of us feared that if we didn’t buy the flat after registering, we would lose a lot of money,” said Mr Anand, a potential buyer.