New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS): A petition was on Tuesday filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the August 4 notification of city government increasing the circle rate of agricultural land by three times.

The petition filed by Gopal Gupta said the decision by the AAP government was taken without the approval of Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung, and sought its quashing.

It said the LG was the competent authority to take the final decision on the issue.

The AAP government's notification on revised circle rates for agricultural land has already been stayed by the LG's office.

The government had gone ahead and issued revised rates for agricultural land without seeking the LG's nod even though land comes directly under the LG's control.

The Arvind Kejriwal government criticised the past practice of elected governments seeking approvals from the LG on every matter, which led to inordinate delays in decision-making.

The government accused Jung of regularly raising objections on matters that do not fall under his purview.

The government fixed the new rates in the range of Rs.1 crore to Rs.3.5 crore per acre from the earlier Rs.53 lakh per acre.