Chandigarh, Aug 27 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini on Wednesday announced that stamp duty on residential plots up to 50 square yards in urban areas and up to 100 square yards in rural areas stands abolished.

"The stamp duty will be zero with effect from today," Saini said.

The order covers all properties bought under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Mukhyamantri Shehri Awas Yojana, and Mukhyamantri Gramin Awas Yojana. The chief minister made the announcement while responding to a calling attention motion moved by the opposition INLD on a recent increase in the collector rates.

Saini also alleged that the opposition was trying to mislead the public on the revised collector rate.

The collector rate is the minimum value at which a property can be registered in the government records. The registration fee and stamp duty while buying a property are based on these rates.

Saini informed the House that out of a total of 2,46,812 segments in the state, the collector rate has been increased by only 10 per cent in 72.01 per cent of them.

The entire process is based on a "data-driven and rational formula," under which the top 50 per cent of property registries in each segment were analysed, he said.

In areas where the registry value was 200 per cent higher than the collector rate, the maximum increase was 50 per cent, he said.

Despite the adjustment, collector rates in most areas remain significantly below actual market prices.

This step aligns with the government's objective of promoting transparent transactions and good governance, curbing black money, and enabling the public to transact property at real and fair prices, Saini said.

INLD member Aditya Devi Lal said, "There is great resentment among the public over hiked collector rates. After the hiked collector rates, it has become unaffordable for common people to buy a house." The lawmaker added, "Why does the government want to burden common people, small traders, poor, farmers? The government should roll back the hiked rates." Saini said during the opposition's rule from 2004 to 2014, the collector rate increased by an average of 25.11 per cent, whereas under the BJP government from 2014 to 2025, the increase has been only 9.69 per cent.

He also emphasised that the government had not introduced any new registration tax.

Since 2008, stamp duty has been levied at 7 per cent (including a 2 per cent development fee) for men and 5 per cent for women, and these rates remain unchanged to this day, he said.

Taking a dig at the opposition, the chief minister said that the issue is not about increasing the collector rate, but about individuals who engage in land deals using black money to evade stamp duty.

Saini said that the revision of collector rates is a routine and transparent process, conducted annually in accordance with market prices.

He said that between 2004 and 2014, when the Congress governed the state, the rates increased by 10 per cent to 300 per cent across all districts.

Saini cited several examples, such as that of Faridabad, where, he said, rates rose by 300 per cent in 2008 and 220 per cent in 2011-12, Karnal where it shot up by 220 per cent in 2012-13, Mahendragarh when it went up by 100 per cent in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and Jhajjar where it rose by 109 per cent in 2007-08.

He alleged that during the Congress's regime, there was no formula to determine the collector rates, and the party's policy was to favour builders and the land mafia. PTI SUN VN VN

Stamp duty abolition on small residential plots reduces transaction costs and targets transparency, curbing black money in property deals Haryana has abolished stamp duty on purchases of small residential plots-urban plots up to 50 square yards and rural plots up to 100 square yards-effective immediately, and the exemption covers properties bought under specified housing schemes. The government justifies the measure as promoting transparent transactions, curbing black money, and lowering transaction costs for public housing beneficiaries, while defending recent, data driven annual adjustments to collector rates and stating that stamp duty and registration tax rates themselves were not newly increased.