Chandigarh, Jun 13 (IANS): Municipal councils and municipal committees in Haryana will no longer require no-objection certificates for the purchase or sale of agricultural land within urban areas, said state MoS for Urban Local Bodies Subhash Sudha on Thursday.

Landowners can now directly register their properties without having to pay property tax or development fees. There are about 252,000 such properties in the state.

The minister told the media here that permission will be granted to sell vacant plots located within colonies in urban areas. To facilitate this, applicants must clear any outstanding property tax and fees, he said.

"This initiative will benefit 4,30,000 properties. In addition, the property owners, who have self-certified their properties within Lal Dora boundaries, will also be permitted to sell their properties. This will benefit 685,000 such properties," he said.

Sudha said 741 unapproved colonies across all urban areas in Haryana have been regularised, granting owners the right to sell all 1,71,368 properties within these colonies.

Also, efforts are underway to complete the regularisation of the remaining 433 colonies by June 30.