Govt to allot land to political parties on basis of no of MPs

New Delhi, Jun 16 (UNI) The Union Cabinet today approved a ''uniform and rational'' policy of allotment of land for political parties to enable effective functioning of these organisations.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here that the national political parties recognised by the Election Commission of India and the state recognised parties, having at least seven MPs in both houses of Parliament, together shall be considered for allotment of plot of land for construction of their office building in Delhi.

Under the new policy approved by the cabinet, the quantum of land that would be considered for allotment to political parties would be according to the strength of their MPs in both the houses.

But the minimum land would be 500 sq meter in the institutional area at institutional price, he said.

Parties having 16 to 25 MPs would be allotted 1000 sq meters of land while those having 26 to 50 MPs would be given 2000sq meters of land. Parties with 51 to 100 MPs would get one acre of land while those national parties having 101 to 200 MPs would get two acres of land and party having more than 201 MPs would get 4 acres of land, he said. The land to be allotted may comprise of one or more plots.

In case a political party has been allotted land earlier, fresh allotment of land in accordance with the above norms shall be considered after deducting the quantm of land already allotted, he said.

However, the political parties would have to fulfill certain conditions for land allotment which including furnishign a certificate from the Election Commission confirming their status as the National state recognised political parties. Premises allotted should not be used for residential or commercial purposes, he said.

Mr Mukherjee said the government took a decision to allot land to political parties in view of the Supreme Court directive to these parties to vacate government bunglows they are having offices in. The Apex Court in the same judgement had directed the government to give land to political parties to construct their offices. The court had said that after three years of allotment of land, the political parties should be evicted from the government bunglows, he pointed out.

So, now the political parties occupying a government bunglow/ suite in Vithalbhai Patel House for the purpose of office would have to vacate it immediately after construction of their office building on the allotted plot or within three years from the date of taking over vacant possession of land, whichever is earlier, he said.

The cabinet has clarified that the building constructed on the allotted land shall be utilised by the political parties for their National level unit as well as other wings of the respective organisation. The premises shall be utilised only for office purpose. Sub-letting of the plots shall be governed by the instruction / restrictions issued in this regard for the institutional plots, he said.

The land shall be allottted on leasehold basis and the allotment shall be made on payment of zonal variant institutional rate. The allottee party shall also pay the annual ground rent amounting to 2.5 percent of the premium, he informed.

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