NAGPUR: The Maharashtra government is planning to implement CTS-card-level micro-zoning of Ready Reckoner (RR) rates, designed to benefit landowners by eliminating the practice of assigning the same value to a slum tenement and a luxury high-rise within the same area. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced this in Nagpur on Thursday. A three-phase, property-by-property survey has commenced, starting in Mumbai, with a timeline for implementation in Nagpur set for the next two years.
Bawankule noted that the survey is being conducted by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC). He cited a notable city hotel as an example of the existing valuation system distortions. “Currently, a one-square-kilometer growth zone applies the same rate for all properties, regardless of their type. Hence, the value of a tall, prestigious building affects the entire area,” he explained.
Under the new framework, RR rates will reflect the actual infrastructure and amenities of each micro-zone, establishing distinct rates for slum dwellings, individual homes, mid-tier flats, and high-rises in the same locality. “There will be separate rates for buildings, tall structures, and homes for low-income citizens,” Bawankule stated. This initiative follows a long-standing request from CM Fadnavis and public demand through CREDAI.
In April, TOI reported that the state decided against a proposed 14% hike in RR rates in favor of micro-zoning. They also increased the regularization limit for unauthorized residential constructions built before 2011 from 500 sqft to 1,500 sqft, reduced land survey costs from ₹10,000 to about ₹1,000 using new software, and introduced decentralized quasi-judicial powers, promising resolution for revenue disputes within 90 days and two hearings.
