GHAZIABAD: The authorities can now charge cess on developers in cities with the metro and RapidX services and the Hindon elevated road as the UP governor has issued a gazette notification in that regard.

Earlier in June, the UP cabinet approved the cess after the cash-strapped Ghaziabad Development Authority approached the government, seeking relief from a court ruling directing it to refund Rs 50 crore of the metro and Hindon elevated road cess collected from developers during map approval.

Now, the cess—approved by the cabinet and notified by the governor—stands incorporated into the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973.

“This is a policy decision above court scrutiny, which is a major relief not just to the GDA but development authorities across the state,” said a GDA official.

The notification said, “In any development area, the state government declares its intention to undertake one or more special amenity projects, the authority shall be entitled to levy special amenity fee in such manner and at such rate as the state government may allow by notification in the gazette.”

The GDA, since 2014-15, has been charging metro and Hindon elevated road cess at a Rs 750/sqm rate. But in 2017, a consortium of 27 developers approached the Allahabad High Court against the GDA decision to levy the cess, and in August 2021, the court ruled in favour of the developers.

“However, now, the decks are clear, and the GDA decision to charge the metro and Hindon elevated road cess stands vindicated,” said the GDA official.

Gaurav Gupta, secretary of NCR-CREDAI, who was a part of the developers’ consortium, said, “We welcome the decision, but having said that, we would like to impress upon the GDA to consider waiving off the 6,000 per sqm charges on purchasable FAR (floor area ratio) from 1.5 to 2.5.”

“There were three issues against which we had approached Allahabad HC—the metro cess, the Hindon elevated road cess, and the purchasable FAR. The court had decided in our favour in all three issues. In light of the notification from the governor, the court decision on the cess now stands null. But the GDA has also not acted on the purchasable FAR issue despite the court ruling,” said Gupta.

He added that no development authority in the state, except for the GDA and the Lucknow Development Authority, charges a whopping Rs 6000/sqm on purchasable FAR from 1.5 to 2.5.