Punjab has launched the Meri Dukan Mere Naam scheme to give eligible long-term shop tenants a route to ownership of commercial premises in municipal corporations, municipal councils and nagar panchayats. Applications under the scheme can be submitted at the offices of the concerned local bodies until November 6, 2026.
Local Government Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the scheme covers shopkeepers and small traders who have maintained legal possession of a shop for more than 12 years before April 1, 2020. Applicants will have to establish the required period of possession through documents submitted to the relevant municipal authority.
The scheme creates an administrative process involving multiple levels of government. An SDM-level committee will scrutinise applications and examine the eligibility of applicants. A committee headed at the deputy commissioner level will determine the price of each shop. After these steps, the concerned municipal corporation, council or nagar panchayat will pass resolutions on the individual cases.
The amount payable will depend on the applicant’s annual income. Economically weaker section applicants with an annual income below Rs 3 lakh will pay 12.5% of the collector rate. Applicants in the lower-income group, with annual incomes between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 8 lakh, will pay 25% of the collector rate.
The rate will rise to 50% for middle-income group applicants earning between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 15 lakh annually. Applicants with incomes above Rs 15 lakh will have to pay the full collector rate. These concessional rates are applicable to shops measuring less than 50 square metres.
The scheme could convert long-standing tenancy arrangements into formal ownership for eligible traders, while placing the process under scrutiny by district and local-government institutions. The requirements also mean that applicants will need to establish both the duration and legality of their possession before their cases can move through the approval process.
However, the policy does not provide a route to regularisation for every occupant of a municipal commercial space. Sub-tenants are excluded, as are occupants of parks, streets and public utility spaces. These exclusions limit the scheme to specified shop-tenancy arrangements and prevent public-use areas from being brought within the ownership process.
Shopkeepers seeking the benefit must submit their applications to the relevant municipal corporation or council office by November 6, 2026. The subsequent scrutiny, valuation and resolutions by local bodies will determine which applicants receive ownership rights under the scheme.
