The Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill which seeks to regularise unauthorised constructions in urban areas by collecting “impact fee” from the owners.
During a day-long session of the newly elected Assembly, the “Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Bill-2022” was passed unanimously as opposition Congress as well as Aam Aadmi Party gave their consent for the passage.
The bill replaced an ordinance issued by the previous BJP government in October for the regularisation of unauthorised constructions in cities and towns.
While tabling the bill, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rushikesh Patel said a recent survey showed that nearly 42 per cent of buildings in eight major cities and 87 per cent of buildings in the jurisdiction of 156 municipalities did not have the mandatory “Building Use” or BU permission.
The bill provides for the regularisation of such unauthorised constructions within the jurisdictions of municipal corporations, urban development authorities and municipalities on payment of Impact Fee.
The Act was needed because many people will become homeless or lose their livelihood if such buildings were to be demolished for not having BU permission, minister Patel said. The provisions of the bill apply to any unauthorised construction done before October 1, 2022.
Owners of such properties will have to apply for regularisation through the e-nagar portal. Constructions in industrial areas and on public or government properties like roads will not be regularised, the minister said.
The Impact Fee collected from property owners will be put in an Infrastructure Development Fund which will be used for strengthening infrastructure facilities, setting up fire safety systems and creating parking facilities, he added.
The impact fee will be in the range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 18,000 for unauthorised residential construction between 50 square meters to 300 square meters.
An additional Rs 150 would be charged for every square meter of construction above 300 square meters. The fee will double if the property was used for other than the residential purpose, the bill said.