Chennai: Streets in Tamil Nadu’s market value guideline register will now be classified as commercial, mixed-use or residential based on the share of commercial electricity connections, as part of a correction exercise ordered by the Registration Department to address eight categories of anomalies identified by a high-level committee. Officials, however, said manpower shortages could affect implementation.The corrections are aimed at reducing the gap between guideline values and actual market values. According to officials, streets where 60% or more properties have commercial electricity connections will be classified as commercial, those with 25% to 60% commercial connections as mixed-use, and those below 25% as residential. The exercise will rely on street maps and electricity connection data from the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), cross-verified with property tax records.Officials said a similar exercise was undertaken in 2024 but was not implemented. This time, reports are to be prepared within weeks and submitted to district-level valuation committees.The move follows a valuation committee meeting on July 15, where the Inspector General of Registration accepted issues highlighted in the committee’s report under the Tamil Nadu Stamp Rules, 2010, enabling district-level valuation sub-committees to act on them.The committee also identified inconsistencies in valuations of cross roads and branch roads connected to main roads and directed that roads of similar width and usage be valued uniformly. It further flagged sharp variations in valuations along the same highway passing through adjoining villages. A sub-registrar cited an example on the East Coast Road-Poonamallee highway stretch, where comparable stretches in three neighbouring villages carry guideline values of ₹2,000, ₹500 and ₹1,800 respectively. Such disparities will be reviewed.Areas adjoining rapidly developing localities will also be reassessed. The committee noted that villages such as Navalur and Vengaivasal, located near Sholinganallur, continue to have lower valuations despite comparable development.The department has nearly completed correction of errors in survey numbers used for street valuations. Missing survey numbers along highways and district roads will also be mapped and assigned values based on proximity to commercial centres, industrial areas, transport hubs and village limits.Agricultural lands wrongly classified as house sites in the guideline register will be verified using AgriStack records and corrected where necessary.The department has additionally ordered a review of market values in 1,020 villages and panchayats adjoining urban areas, using factors such as registered sale values, advertised prices, field surveys, land acquisition values and bank sale certificates.District collectors will forward recommendations through valuation sub-committees before corrections are incorporated into the guideline register. “It is a good move, but we have 40% vacancies. Proper implementation will require additional manpower,” a sub-registrar said. Builders Association of India DTCP committee chairman S. Ramprabhu welcomed the initiative and suggested guideline values be reviewed every six months based on registration trends.
