Betterment
The charge that is money, not land
There are two different fifty per cents in these documents. One is a share of your land. The other is a ceiling on money you can be asked to pay. This page is about the money one, because it is the one people never hear about until it arrives.
A town planning scheme is supposed to make land more useful. Roads reach it, services arrive, and it becomes worth more than it was. The law lets the authority recover part of that increase in cash. That recovery is called a betterment charge, or a betterment contribution.
It is calculated from the increase in the value of the land, and the Act caps how much of that increase can be taken. It is entirely separate from the land deduction, and it is possible to face both.
What our documents do not contain is any actual betterment demand, rate or assessment for any Dholera scheme. The rule is here. The number is not.
What the Act allows
(i)(a) where the cost of the scheme does not exceed half the increment, the cost shall be met wholly by a contribution, and (b) where it exceeds half the increment, to the extent of half the increment it shall be met by a contribution and the excess shall be borne by the appropriate authority;
Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976, Section 79(1) proviso (i) - Contribution towards costs of scheme, gtpuda.pdf p.47 OFFICIAL
The betterment contribution levied on an owner is capped at one half of the increment (the increase in market value attributable to the scheme). Cost above that cap falls on the appropriate authority.
What the Dholera plan says about it
Compensation is paid to land owner of the land taken away for roads and public facilities. At the same time, betterment charges known as incremental contribution are collected from each owner to the maximum of 50 percent of the estimated increase in the land value after plot reconstitution. The funds so generated are utilized for the development of infrastructure and common facilities within the scheme area.
Final Development Plan - DSIRDA, Report - 1, Section 10.4.3 Town Planning Schemes, dp_report1.pdf p.181 OFFICIAL
The two fifty per cents, side by side
| Betterment contribution | Land deduction | |
|---|---|---|
| What it takes | money | land |
| Measured against | the increase in the value of the land | the total area covered by the scheme |
| Who it is owed to | the appropriate authority | nobody: the land is allotted away inside the scheme |
| Where the rule is | section 79(1) of the 1976 Act, and the Development Plan | section 40(3) of the 1976 Act, and the scheme 3 sanction |
| Figure in our documents | a cap only, no assessed amount | an average of fifty per cent, for scheme 3 |
Reading one of these as the other is the most common mistake made about Dholera land pooling, and it always flatters whoever is selling. If a percentage is quoted at you, ask whether it is land or money.
What is not here
- No betterment charge assessed on any Dholera plot appears in either dataset.
- No rate, no formula worked through with real numbers, and no demand notice.
- No statement of whether any betterment has been levied on any scheme to date.
- No valuation of any land, before or after a scheme, which is what the charge would be calculated from.
This site holds no price or valuation data of any kind, which is set out on the method page. The land deduction, which is a different thing entirely, is on the deduction page.
Other questions answered here
- 01What do the words on a scheme sheet actually mean?Every term used on these documents, in one sentence of plain English, with the document that carries it.
- 02Who signs off a town planning scheme, and in what order?The stages a scheme passes through, the bodies that sign each one, and the two Dholera sanctions that exist in writing.
- 03My village is in a scheme. Is all of it in?Every scheme sheet says part villages. What that means, and why no document says how much of your village is inside.
- 04What is a survey number, and how many does my village have?The unit the whole record is counted in, and all 14,574 of them across the twenty two villages.