Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 3 (गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग ३)

Swami Vivekanand

Gaurakshakaur Gyani Part 1 (गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग १)
Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 2 (गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग २)

गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग ३ ज्ञानीः अगर ये तर्क तुम्हे नही मना पा रहा तो स्वामी विवेकानंदजी और स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकरजी की सीख जरूर मना लेगी। गोरकक्षकः विवेकानंद और वीर सावरकरजी! ज्ञानीः हॉं हॉं, सुने तो हैं ना ये दो नाम? गोरकक्षकः दुनीयांमे कोईभी इंसान जो अपने आपको एक सच्चा हिंदु समजतां हैं, वो ये दो नाम भगवान के बाद लेगा। ज्ञानीः खाली नाम लेकरही रूके हो की इन दो महान व्यक्तीयोंका कुछ साहीत्य, कमसे कम उनके बारे मैं कुछ पढाभी हैं? गोरकक्षकः जी हॉं, नेताजी केहेते हैं... ज्ञानीः यही परेशानी का जड हैं मेरे वत्स! दो-चार सनकी लोग तुम्हे कुछ बताते हैं और तूम ‘बाबा वाक्यम् प्रमाणम्’ बोलके मान लेते हो। कीसी भी चिज की तरफदारी या विरोध उस चिजके बारेमें पुरी जानकारी लिये बगैर कैसे करते हो? खैर, इन दोनोंने गोरकक्षाके बारेंमें बहोतही क्रांतीकारी विचार प्रदर्शित किये हैं। गोरकक्षकः और वो क्या पंडीतजी? ज्ञानीः उस वक्त बोहत बडा सूखा पडा था। विवेकानंदजीके पास एक आद्मी अकालसमे गोसंवर्धन हेतू चंदा मांगने आया। तब स्वामीजीने उसे कहा की “गाय का तो ठिक हैं लेकीन तूम सूखेसे पिडीत लोगोंके लिये क्या कर रहे हो?” सावरकरजीने तो हिंदु धर्मको उसका खोया हुआ वैज्ञानिक दृष्टीकोन यानेके scientific base वापसदेने हेतू काफी विस्त्रुत लेखन कीया हैं। उन्होने यहॉं तक कहॉं हैं की दुध ना देनेवाली बुढी / बीमार गायोंसे अगर कोई गरीब छुटकारा पाना चाहे तो उसे गुन्हा नहीं सिर्फ गलत माना जा सकता हैं। कुछ समजे नेताजीके अनुयायी? गोरकक्षकः हॉं लेकीन... ज्ञानीः और एक बात, कीसीभी धर्म की ताकत किसमें होती हैं? गोरकक्षकः वो धर्म मानने वाले लोगोंमें पंडीतजी। जितने जादा लोग, उतना बलशाली वो धर्म। ज्ञानीः सही कहॉं। और अगर किसीभी चिजको तूम डिव्हाईड करते हो या बाटते हो, तो वो चिज बढती हैं या घटती हैं? गोरकक्षकः आसान हैं घटती हैं। ज्ञानीः तो फीर यहीं आसान बात जब तूम गोहत्या के आशंकाके कारण किसी दलीतकी – जो इस हिंदु धर्म का अभिन्न अंग हैं – हत्या करते हो तब समझ नही आती? पेहेलेसेही सवर्ण लोगोंने धर्मके खिलाफ इतने सालोंसे जो उनपें अत्याचार किये हैं उससे वो हिंदू धर्मसे दूर जा रहे हैं और उसमें तूम जैसे लोगोंकी हरकतोंसे दूरीयॉं और बढ रही हैं। वक्त रेहेते तूम लोग अभी सुधर नही गये तो एक समय ऐसा आयेगा की हिंदू धर्म पर रोने के लीयेभी कोई हिंदू नही बचेगा! गोरकक्षकः हॉं सच कहॉं पंडीतजी! ज्ञानीः और दुसरी तरफ तूमलोग अपने मुस्लीमबंधूओंको तकलीफ देते हो। इससे बाकी कुछ नही पर तूम आयसीस जैसे आतंकी संघटनोंका काम आसान कर रहे हो। वो तो चाहते हैं की ज्यादासे ज्यादा मुस्लीम युवक उनके तरफ आकर्षित हो। गोरकक्षकः तो इसका मतलब हम कुछ ना करे? हॉंत पर हॉंत धरे बैठे रहे? ज्ञानीः तुम्हे अगर कुछ करनाही हैं तो हमारे आदरणीय पंतप्रधानजी का केहेना मानो. गायको प्लॅस्टीक बॅग्स् खानेसे रोको। ईश्वर तुम्हारा भला करे। शुभम भवतू। समाप्त

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 3 Gyani: Wait my boy! If reasoning doesn’t convince you then teachings of Swami Vivekanand and Swatyantravir Savarkar definitely will. Gaurakshak: Vivekanand and Veer Sawarkar? Gyani: Yes! I hope you have heard these names! Gaurakshak: For any proud Hindu these two names are next to the God! Gyani: Great! So you must have read their books or at least have read about their teachings? Gaurakshak: Yes of course! Netaji says... Gyani: Here lies the root cause of the problem. Couple of mad leaders like him brain-wash you and then that becomes the universal truth for you! How can you support or oppose any thought, thing or person before being 100% sure about it/him? Anyways, Swamiji and Sawarkarji have expressed revolutionary thoughts in context of Cow protection. Gaurakshak: And what are those Punditji? Gyani: It was a time of great drought when one person came to Swamiji asking for the fund for the welfare of cows. Then Swamiji told him “That’s fine. But what about the welfare of drought affected humans?”                           Even Veer Sawarkarji has done extensive writing to give back the scientific base to the Hindu religion. He has said that, it cannot be considered a crime but just a mistake if a very poor owner of a cow thinks of getting rid of his old useless cow. So have you taken any lesson netaji’s follower? Gaurakshak: Yes but... Gyani: One more thing - tell me; what is the real strength of any religion? Gaurakshak: It is in number of its followers Punditji. Gyani: Absolutely correct! Now tell me if you divide anything then will it increase or decrease? Gaurakshak: Obviously it will decrease... Gyani: Then why don’t you apply the same logic when you think of harming any dalit just on the suspicion of killing a cow or eating beaf? Do you forget that this dalit too; like you and me is undisputedly a Hindu? Atrocities forced upon these downtrodden by the so called upper casts in the past have already made them wary of Hinduism and to top that people like you still deny them the respectable life they deserve. Allow me little exaggeration; if you continue this way, very soon Hinduism will be an extinct religion. Gaurakshak: Yes, true Punditji! Gyani: On the other hand you trouble Muslims too. Don’t you see by doing this you are making it easier for terrorist organizations like ISIS to recruit our Indian brothers? Gaurakshak: So in short you are suggesting us not to do anything for the well being of a cow? Gyani: No my boy; our honourable Prime Minster has recently made a profound statement on this. He said, if you want to protect a cow, protect it from eating plastic bags. What a realistic thought my boy! Do work on it! May god be with you! Shubham Bhavatu! The End

Swatyantraveer Sawarkar

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 2 (गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग २)

Panchagavya

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 1 गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग १

गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग २ गोरक्षकः तो फिर गाय को अपने पुराणोंमें जो पवित्रता बहाल की हैं वो झूठ हैं क्या? ज्ञानीः इस धरती के सबसे उपयुक्त प्राणीको – गायको उस समयके जादातर मांसभक्षक समाजसे संरक्षीत रखने हेतू हमारे महान ऋषीयोंने निकाला हुआ वो बेहेतरीन पैत्रा था वत्स. अगर मैं गाय की उपयुक्तता बयॉं करू तो तूम हक्के-बक्के रेह जाओगे। मॉंके दूध के बात अगर कोई सर्वोत्तम आहार हैं तो वो हैं गायका दूध. अपि तू दूधसे मिलनेवाली मलाई, दही, मख्खन, छाछ इ. सबमे काफी पोषणमूल्य होते हैं. वैसे देखा जाए तो भैसका दूधतो नइ खोज हैं इंसान के लिये। दूध का छोडो, गायकी विष्ठातक उपयूक्त हैं। आजभी कइ सारी आयुर्वेदीक दवाओंमे गोमुत्र इस्तेमालमे लाया जाता हैं। गीले गोबरसे टूटी हड्डीओंको प्लास्टर लगता था, भवन निर्माण हेतू उपयोगमे लाया जाता था और सूखे गोबरसे इंधन मिलता था। गायके नर बच्चेसे हल चलाया जाता था। अगर भावनिक तौरपे देखोगे तो गायके ऑंखों मैं जो अपार करूणा नजर आती हैं वो किसी और जीव मैं नही पाओगे। गोरक्षकः फिरसे हम मनुष्यकी सर्वश्रेष्ठतापे आके रूक गये। ज्ञानीः और यहीं सच हैं मेरे पुत्र। गाय धर्मका एक अंग जरूर हैं, पर धर्म का मुलभूत आधारही 'मानवकी' भलाई हैं। मानवही धर्मके केंद्रमें हैं। गोरक्षकः फिर इसका मतलब आप गोहत्याका या हत्यारोंका समर्थन करते हैं। ज्ञानीः नहीं वत्स; नहीं। मैंही नही, अपना धर्मतक किसीभी त-हाके हिंसाका खंडंन करते हैं। फिर वो गायकी हो या मुर्गेकी। बल्की यही वो कारण हैं जो भारतवर्षको दुनीयाका सबसे बडा शाकाहारी देश बनाता हैं। गोरक्षकः अब तो आप गायको और मुर्गेको एकही स्तरपर ला आए। ज्ञानीः बेशक! अभी कहे उपयोग छोड दो तो गाय उतनीही पवित्र या उतनीही निम्नस्तरकी हैं जीतनाकी एक मुर्गा। गोरक्षकः अगर ऐसा हैं तो मुझे ये बोलते हुए बिल्कुल खेद नहीं होता की आप एक सच्चे हिंदू नही हैं। ज्ञानीः अगर ये तर्क तुम्हे नही मना पा रहा तो स्वामी विवेकानंदजी और स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकरजी की सीख जरूर मना लेगी। ...क्रमशः गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग ३

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 2 Gaurakshak: Then is the sacred state given to the cow in our scriptures wrong? Gyani: Assigning a sacred status to cow was the most efficient way our great Rishis devised to protect the most valuable animal on earth. Cow needed protection from dominantly carnivorous society existing then. You will be flabbergasted if I tell you how useful a cow is. Cow milk is said to be next best thing to mother’s milk. Then its cream, butter, curd, butter milk and clarified butter all have high nutrient contents. Buffalo milk is a comparatively recent discovery of a man kind. Forget milk, in fact cow’s excreta is also useful. Cow’s urine or gomutra has medicinal properties and is still used in number of ayurvedik medicines. Wet cow dung, being a good binding agent was used as a plaster for broken bones before plaster of paris was discovered. It was also used in building homes. Whereas dried dung was used as fuel. Plus, cow’s male calf could be put to use in farming. So basically there are innumerable uses of cow. On emotional level, you will be touched by the compassionate eyes of a cow. No other animal projects this emotion strongly associated with motherhood. Gaurakshak: Punditji, this again boils down to the supremacy of human beings. Gyani: This exactly is a case my boy. Cow is part of a religion. But the whole concept of religion is to better the human life. So the focal point is human. Gaurakshak: So you are justifying the killing of cows or at least supporting the culprits. Gyani: I am not son; I am not! Neither me nor our religion supports killing of any creature. Let it be a cow or a chicken. This exactly is a reason why vegetarianism is so popular in India. Gaurakshak: But you at least mean that a cow is as sacred or as sundry as a chicken. Gyani: Yes! Cow devoid of the above uses is as sundry as a chicken. Gaurakshak: Then I am sorry to say this Punditji but you are not a true Hindu! Gyani: Wait my boy! If reasoning doesn’t convince you then teachings of Swami Vivekanand and Swatyantravir Savarkar definitely will. ...To be continued Gaurakshak aur GyaniPart 3

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 1 गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग १

गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग १ गोरक्षकः पंडीतजी, अपने पुरानोंके अनुसार, कीसी भी आत्मा का अंतीम उद्देश क्या होता हैं? ज्ञानीः मोक्ष. मतलब जन्म और मृत्यू के चक्र से हमेशा के लीये मुक्ती। गोरक्षकः तो फिर क्या कोई भी जीव मोक्ष प्राप्त कर सकता हं? ज्ञानीः नही! सिर्फ हम इंसान अपने गुरु के आशिर्वादसे मोक्ष प्राप्त कर सकते हैं। गोरक्षकः मतलब मनुष्य छोडकर अन्य प्राणीयोंको मनुष्य जन्म प्राप्त करने के बाद ही मोक्ष मिल सकता हैं। ज्ञानीः बिलकुल सही पेहेचान वत्स। गोरक्षकः गाय को भी नही पंडीतजी? ज्ञानीः ना! गोरक्षकः तो फिर इसका मतलब हुआ की सब प्राणीयोंमे यहॉ तक गौमातासेभी इन्सानही सर्व श्रेष्ठ हैं। ज्ञानीः इसमे अहंकार ना देखो तो यही सच हैं। गोरक्षकः क्या अपने पुराणोंमे सचमें यहीं लिखा हैं पंडितजी? ज्ञानीः हां वत्स! यहीं लिखा हैं! पर तूम इतने साशंक क्यूं हो पुत्र? गोरक्षकः क्यूं के नेताजी केहेते हैं की गोहत्या या गोमांससे जुडे किसीभी इन्सान को भयंकर दंड दो! वे केहेते हैं अपने देशका कानूनभी इसे अपराध मानता हैं। ज्ञानीः अब ऐसा देखो, पेहेले तो अगर ये कानूनी अपराध हैं तो अपराधी को सजा देने का हक्क सिर्फ और सिर्फ कानून का हैं। तूम्हारा या तुम्हारे नेताजी का नही। और दुसरी बात; नेताजी जैसे लोगोंसे भरे हुए देश मैं ये कानून मतलब अश्वत्थामाके हात मैं ब्रह्मास्त्र! बडे शत्र के साथ बडी जिम्मेवारीभी आती हैं। आपके नेताजी जैसे गैरजिम्मैदाराना पागलोंसे तो खाली विनाशही हो सकतां हैं। गोरक्षकः तो फिर गाय को अपने पुराणोंमें जो पवित्रता बहाल की हैं वो झूठ हैं क्या? ...क्रमशः गोरक्षक और ज्ञानी भाग २

Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 1 Gaurakhsak: Punditji, what is the ultimate aim of a soul as per the Hindu scriptures? Gyani: It is to attain the salvation or Moksha as it is called. It is freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Gauraskhak: Then can any living being attain this Moksha? Gyani: No! Only humans can – with help of his / her Guru. Gaurakshak: Are you sure Punditji? I mean are you sure no animal can attain moksha unless and until he is reborn as a human being? Gyani: Yes! You are right my son! Gaurakshak: Not even a cow Punditji? Gyani: No! Gaurakshak: But this then means Humans are superior to animals even though that animal is a cow! Gyani: Indeed! Gaurakshak: Punditji are you sure this has been said and written in our religious texts? Gyani: Yes by all means it is strictly as per our scriptures. But why are you asking this my son? Gaurakshak: Because our netaji says it is our duty to severely punish a person who is killing a cow or is in possession of beef. He says even Indian law states that. Gyani: There are two aspects to this. 1st of all, if it is forbidden by law, then let the legal system punish the offender. You or your netaji have no authority to do so. Secondly, this law when used by people like netaji is similar to Brahmastra in the hands of Ashvatthaman! Great weapon calls for great responsibility my boy! It is disastrous in the hands of irresponsible fanatics like your netaji. Gaurakshak: Then is the sacred state given to the cow in our scriptures wrong? ...To be continued Gaurakshak aur Gyani Part 2

Flat Buyer's Guide - Chapter 7 Miscellaneous

Recent Belleza Blue case in Pune (2^nd Campa Cola like case in Maharashtra) where high court has asked the residents to vacate the illegally constructed 3 floors of the building, is quite a shock to all the flat buyers. 

I am working with one of the very few trust worthy real estate companies in India from past 6 years and thus thought of coming up with this guide for buyers of residential apartments.

I hope to cover all the necessary points / information so that technical or legal terms used in the real estate filed do not sound Greek to a lay flat buyer and he is not lost while speaking with the builder. **While doing so I have tried to furnish as accurate information as possible to best of my knowledge but e & oe (errors & omissions expected).

Index
Chapter	Synopsis
1. Basic concepts & definitions	Carpet, Built-up, Saleable etc areas & more
2. Units & Measurements	Sq. ft., Sq. Mtrs., Guntha, Acres, hectares etc & more
3. Legal Documents	Title & Search Report, NA, 7/12, PR, Blue Print, CC, Index – II, OC, POA etc
4. Material & Specifications	Tiles, Doors, Windows, Painting etc
5. Home Loan	Eligibility, EMI, Tenure, Loan Transfer etc
6. Government Duties & Taxes	Stamp Duty & registration, TDS, ST, VAT etc
7. Miscellaneous	RERA, Flat Inspection, Project Reviews etc

Chapter 7: Miscellaneous

1. RERA: stands for the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India.

a.     It aims to regularize the real estate sector and make it more responsible and reasonable towards the buyers.

b.     It is a constitutional amendment (The Real Estate Regulation & Development Act of India) passed in 2016 and will be made applicable in phased manner.

c.      I shall hereby list the provisions as and when they come in to force:

d.     June 2016

                                i.      Rate of interest for a delayed payment from a buyer should be same as the rate of interest paid to the buyer for delayed possession.

                              ii.      Government of India has suggested to fix this rate of interest for delayed possession (and hence for delayed payment too) at 2% higher than the Prime Lending Rate (PLR) of SBI. Thus currently if approved by State governments and union territories (real estate sector comes under the preview of state government), it would be at around 11.2%.

                            iii.      Builder has to clearly mention the carpet area while selling the flat.

2. Inspection:

a.     Unfinished flat will look smaller than the sample flat or any other finished flat of the same size, if you are going for an inspection before flooring, plastering & painting is done.

Simple principal of color theory is behind this phenomenon (you look slim in black clothes than in light colored clothes). Thus dark color of the cement makes the flat look small where as bright white color of the finished flat makes it look big.

b.     If you are going for an inspection of your flat just before taking the possession, please have a check list of below mentioned points:

                                      i.            Are all the switch and light points working? (You may carry a tester for the same)

                                    ii.            Are all taps and toilet flushes working and free of leakages?

                                  iii.            Are all the sliding doors and windows moving smoothly?

                                 iv.            Are there any cracks / stains in / on walls / tiles / basins / sinks / toilet pots / kitchen plat form etc?

                                   v.            Are all the door & window locks & latches working fine?

                                 vi.            Are all the drainage outlets free of clutter & clogging?

3.      Before deciding on buying a flat in a big project or mega township, with club house /swimming pool / gym etc, make sure you really need these amenities and you are going to continuously use them till the time are staying in that complex. Disadvantage of having these amenities is as below:

a.     High rates / infrastructure costs are charged / taken from customers for this

b.     High society maintenance charges so as to maintain these amenities (recurring cost till you are staying in that complex)

c.      Society might not be able to maintain it once builder has handed over the project.

If you don’t think above costs are justified, then go for a project with stand alone buildings or small project with no extra amenities

4.      If may check out Google and various property portals like 99 99 Acres, Magic Bricks, Common Floor, Housing, etc  to do a basic survey and to get the first hand information.

5.      You can also get an average / sq. ft. rates in a particular locality of big cities through these property portals. You just have to type ‘rates in XYZ area in ABC city’ on Google.

6.      If you want to go for a resale flat then check out these portals as well as classified ads in popular newspapers in your city.

7.      If want to get some opinion of some knowledgeable person or to check out the review of a particular real estate project in Pune, you may please checkout a blog of Mr. Ravi Karandeekar – a well known real estate critique in Pune at Ravi Karandeekar's Blog

 Previous: Chapter 6 Government Duties & Taxes 

END

Flat Buyer's Guide - Chapter 6 Government Duties & Taxes

Recent Belleza Blue case in Pune (2^nd Campa Cola like case in Maharashtra) where high court has asked the residents to vacate the illegally constructed 3 floors of the building, is quite a shock to all the flat buyers. 

I am working with one of the very few trust worthy real estate companies in India from past 6 years and thus thought of coming up with this guide for buyers of residential apartments.

I hope to cover all the necessary points / information so that technical or legal terms used in the real estate filed do not sound Greek to a lay flat buyer and he is not lost while speaking with the builder. **While doing so I have tried to furnish as accurate information as possible to best of my knowledge but e & oe (errors & omissions expected).

Index
Chapter	Synopsis
1. Basic concepts & definitions	Carpet, Built-up, Saleable etc areas & more
2. Units & Measurements	Sq. ft., Sq. Mtrs., Guntha, Acres, hectares etc & more
3. Legal Documents	Title & Search Report, NA, 7/12, PR, Blue Print, CC, Index – II, OC, POA etc
4. Material & Specifications	Tiles, Doors, Windows, Painting etc
5. Home Loan	Eligibility, EMI, Tenure, Loan Transfer etc
6. Government Duties & Taxes	Stamp Duty & registration, TDS, ST, VAT etc
7. Miscellaneous	RERA, Flat Inspection, Project Reviews etc

Chapter 6: Government Duties & Taxes

1.     Stamp Duty & Registration:

a.     Right now, in Maharashtra stamp duty is 6% of your total flat cost (generally excluding club house society formation, advance maintenance charges) or ready reckoner value, whichever is higher.

b.     Ready reckoner rate as decided by the revenue department of a city is the average rate prevalent in the particular area. This is the minimum rate at which a government should earn the stamp duty. Even if you have bought a flat at cost less than that of the ready reckoner cost; you will still have to bear the stamp duty on the ready reckoner cost.

This is to curb the losses of the government due to rampant cash transactions in real estate which tend to reduce on paper cost of the property and thus in turn revenues from the stamp duty.

You may please check the ready reckoner rate (per sq. mtrs.) in Pune at Pune Ready Reckoner.

c.      Whereas registration is 1% of your total flat cost (as above) or Rs. 30 Thousand whichever is less.

i.e. if your total flat cost is Rs. 29 Lakhs then registration charges would be Rs. 29 Thousand. And if it’s 31 Lakhs and more it will be Rs. 30 Thousand.

d.     You may pay stamp duty and registration charges by cash / cheque / DD or RTGS depending upon the builder or your lawyer.

2.     Other government taxes:

a.     TDS: Tax Deductible at Source.

                                                        i.            This is the biggest headache a flat owner has these days.

                                                      ii.            As per the law, it is a responsibility of a buyer of an immovable property (flat / land / bungalow etc) of a value exceeding Rs. 50 Lakhs to deduct & pay 1% of the amount paid that has to be to the builder as an advance tax to the Income Tax department before 7^th of a next month in which he has paid to the builder.

i.e. if you have to pay Rs. 100 to a builder say on 21^st of July then pay only Rs. 99/- to the builder and remaining Rs. 1 to the IT department before 7^th of August.

                                                    iii.            Thus TDS is in no way an extra financial burden on buyer but a mechanism to curb the tax invasion from builders.

                                                   iv.            A buyer has to fill up form no. 26QB online at Form 26QB.

At the end of this form, there is a link to pay the TDS online or you may opt for the payment across the bank counter.

Be quick and accurate while filling this form and save your data whenever an information pops up saying that session is expiring.

                                                     v.            4 -5 days after you have paid the TDS, create a long-in on traces website of IT department Traces Login & Form 16B.

                                                   vi.            By this time, form 16B is generated in the system which has to be downloaded, printed, signed and should be submitted to the builder.

                                                 vii.            This form 16B acts as balance 1% of your cost.

                                               viii.            If you are paying the entire cost in phases as per the construction stage then will you have to repeat this entire exercise (except log in creation) with every payment made to the builder.

Thus making ‘TDS’ tedious.

                                                    ix.            TDS being entirely a buyer’s responsibility, an insensitive builder might not even inform you about this and soon enough you will get a notice from IT department.

They charge Rs. 200 fine for a day’s delay in payment, which amounts to a huge sum if you don’t pay or get this notice for year or so.

                                                      x.            Also, please make sure that you submit all the form 16B’s to the builder. In absence of which, builder will demand 100% money from you and you will end up paying additional TDS and or penalty for the same.

                                                    xi.            TDS is not applicable if you are buying a flat from an individual owner (resale)

b.     ST: Service Tax –

                                                        i.            Since 2012, ST is applicable on flat purchased from a builder in an under construction project.

                                                      ii.            Please see below the ST rates applicable as on July 2016

Component	ST	Swachh Bharat Cess	Krishi Kalyan Cess	Total
Agreement Value (Cost mentioned in your agreement)	3.5% of the agreement value	0.5% of the agreement value	0.5% of the agreement value	4.5% of the agreement value
Other charges (Club house, society formation etc)	14% of the other charges	0.5% of the other charges	0.5% of the other charges	15% of the other charges

                                                    iii.            There is no uniform opinion of tax consultants on high court ruling on whether service tax has to be charged on Advance Maintenance payment made to the builder or not. So few builders will charge you service tax on maintenance while majority of them won’t.

                                                   iv.            A recent High court ruling says that buying and selling of flats (immovable property in general) is not a service and thus ST cannot be charged on such transaction.

                                                     v.            It also states that ST department has to return all the tax collected so far with an interest of 6%/annum.

                                                   vi.            But sure there will be appeals and re-appeals from government in the Supreme Court to change this ruling and if needed constitutional amendment as well.

                                                 vii.            So in my opinion, ST is here to stay.

                                               viii.            ST has to be paid every time and in proportion to the payment made to the builder at each stage of construction.

                                                    ix.            ST has been exempted if you are buying a resale property or a property for which occupancy certificate has been received by the builder (ready possession property).

This also means that you will have to pay the service tax for a ready possession property for which builder is not in possession of the occupancy certificate.

                                                      x.            Also, even if you are buying a ready possession property from a builder, ST will be applicable on other charges excluding agreement value.

Thus in short, ST is applicable on other charges but not on agreement value for a ready possession property bought from a builder.

c.      VAT: Value Added Tax

                                                              i.      This is the simplest of all taxes.

                                                            ii.      It’s 1% of the entire flat cost (excluding advance maintenance).

                                                          iii.      Like ST, VAT is not applicable on ready possession or resale properties.

                                                         iv.      VAT has to be paid immediately after you have registered the agreement.

d.     Thus on broad terms, a buyer ends up paying (6% stamp duty + 1% registration + 1% VAT + 4.5% ST =) 12.5% extra than the actual flat cost.

Previous: Chapter 5 Home Loan                                                     Next: Chapter 7 Miscellaneous