Notices to Real Estate Developers for Royalty Dues—Gujarat

Real estate builders in Gujarat are in trouble over old bills. They say calculating clay and minerals used years ago is impossible.

The commissioner of geology and mines has recently issued notices to real estate developers in Gujarat. These notices are part of an effort to review royalty dues connected to extracting ordinary clay, murrum, and minerals from their project sites.

However, the developers are pushing back against this initiative, stating that it's impractical, especially for projects completed around five years ago. Calculating the exact volumes of ordinary clay, murrum, and minerals removed has become challenging.

Commissioner Dhaval Patel clarified, "We have sent notices to developers requesting information about the permits they obtained for their projects. We have asked for data on permit volumes dating from 2017-18 onwards."

In response, developers argue that this method is unworkable. An office-bearer of Credai Gujarat stated, "We delegate permit and royalty responsibilities to contractors, and these details were not under our direct control. Determining the volume of ordinary clay, murrum, and minerals extracted, especially from basements, is practically impossible. We urge the department not to penalise developers. Instead, we propose that the department involve us in supervising mining permits and royalty matters. We are willing to take on this responsibility going forward, but we lack historical records."

An anonymous developer disclosed that they got a notice about royalty charges for regular clay, murrum, and minerals tied to a project that was finished nearly six years back. "It's clear that we don't keep records of ordinary clay, murrum, and mineral extraction for a project concluded nearly six years ago. We are unable to provide this data. The government should consider implementing a fixed royalty fee based on the project's size, as the meticulous retrospective calculations are beyond our capacity."