MUMBAI: If the State Government has its way, the super wealthy superstar Shah Rukh Khan and industrialists Azim Premji and Ratan Tata will have to cough up a lot more for their leased lands in the different pockets in Mumbai.
The State Government earlier this year revised the rental rates for leased plots of land in the city, and has been sending out notices to all 149 occupants of these plots to either pay up the revised annual lease rent or pay a one-time occupancy fee (which is a staggering 20% of the land’s ready reckoner value).
The circular issued in December 2012 stipulated that leases would now be renewed only for 30 years, not 99 or 999, as used to be the practice.
Reportedly, among these 149 are SRK, Tata and Premji, who have until now been paying nominal annual rental fees in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 2,500 a year. But now, with the revised annual lease structure, their rental payments could escalate into lakhs and crores of rupees.
Says Sanjay Deshmukh, suburban Mumbai collector, “We have given them the option of either renewing the lease for 30 years as per the new lease rents or paying for occupancy rights. They will now have to decide what they want to do.”
Up until now, Shah Rukh Khan had been paying a princely sum of Rs 2,325 a year for the 2,446-sq-metre Bandstand plot, upon which he has built his palace, otherwise known as ‘Mannat’. As per the new guidelines, however, he will have to cough up a large sum of Rs 19 lakh a year, to renew his lease for a period of 30 years. Alternatively, he could purchase the land at a whopping Rs 8.3 crore, and claim outright ownership of the plot.
Similarly, Premji’s 990-sq-metre Bandstand plot, under the new structure, will go for Rs 3.36 crore as a one-time charge, or he could renew his lease for Rs 7.73 lakh a year (from the earlier paltry Rs 1208 a year). Tata too will have to shell out much more: Rs 1.74 lakh a year, or Rs 7.4 crore for occupancy of his 251-sq-metre open plot of land in Juhu.
