Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) sells plots reserved for sale in the city’s town planning (TP) schemes through online auctions. However, for the first time, the Ahmedabad collector’s office ruled that even if a plot located in a designated “Disturbed Area” was sold via online auction by the civic body, the sale deed cannot be executed without permission under the Disturbed Areas Act. Consequently, a plot in the Makarba area, sold by the AMC a year ago for Rs 68 crore, remains stalled, as the sale deed was pending for over a year due to the lack of this permission.In an online auction held in June 2024, the AMC sold three of the five plots on offer — two in Makarba and one in Bodakdev — for Rs 237.42 crore. Bidders showed significant interest in the Makarba plots. Specifically, over 18 bidders competed for the plot measuring 3,740 sq m in Makarba. While the base price was set at Rs 80,000 per sq m, the winning bidder purchased it at Rs 1.83 lakh per sq m. The total value of the plot jumped from an estimated Rs 29.92 crore to a sale price of Rs 68.44 crore, netting the AMC a profit of Rs 38.52 crore. Despite this, the sale deed was not finalized for a year.Explaining the delay, AMC officials said that after the auction, when the civic body undertook process of sale deed registration, the sub-registrar demanded that a permission be sought under the Disturbed Areas Act as the Makarba plot falls within a notified “Disturbed Area”. An application has been submitted to the collector’s office to obtain the mandatory permission. The sale deed will only be processed once the collector grants this clearance.A retired AMC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned the logic. “The primary intent of the Disturbed Areas Act is to ensure that property sales in sensitive areas are not done through force, threats, or undue inducement. Permission is required whether the buyer and seller are both from same community or from different communities. However, in this case, the AMC acquired the land through TP scheme deductions and sold it via a transparent online auction. Since the AMC is a govt authority, is it appropriate to demand the disturbed areas clearance for its own auctioned plots?”
