The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the L-G office to clearly specify the timeline for valuation of agricultural land in Delhi and declare by what time the circle rates will be decided.

The single-judge bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao told the L-G office to submit the affidavit within two weeks.

During the course of proceedings, the bench was told by the petitioner that the status report provided by the L-G office was of no use as it only declared “that a committee has been set up for the purpose and does not show the timeline for the work to be done”.

It was further told that since 2008 no valuation of the agricultural land has been done leading to a loss of Rs 500 crores to the Revenue Department every month.

The bench was hearing a plea seeking a direction to L-G office to notify the minimum rates for valuation of agricultural land in Delhi in compliance with the provisions of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, Delhi Stamp (Prevention of under valuation of Instruments) Rules, 2007 and Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The matter was posted for next hearing to January 18.

—India Legal Bureau