President Ram Nath Kovind has given Assent to the Gujarat Disturbed Area (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Act will prohibit transfer of Assets (Immovable Property) in disturbed areas and protects tenants from vacating the properties.
Gujarat Disturbed Area (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has amended “The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act”, 1991 commonly referred to as Disturbed Areas Act.
Key Points:
i.The main aim of the act is to stop polarisation and to check attempts to cause “Demographic Imbalance”.
ii.“Transfer” includes sale, gift, exchange, lease or taking possession of property by way of power of attorney.
iii.The Act prohibits sale of property by members of one religious community to those from another community in areas declared as “Disturbed Areas”.
iv.The District Collector can notify a particular area or city as “Disturbed Area” based on the history of communal riots.
v.The transfer of Assets (immovable property) in disturbed areas cannot be done without the approval of the concerned District Collector.
vi.The act provides for the formation of a “monitoring and advisory committee” to keep check on demographic structure in disturbed areas.
vii.Under the amended act, the government can form a special investigation team (SIT) to assist the state government in forming opinion before declaring any area to be a disturbed one.
Penalty & Imprisonment:
It proposes a fine of INR 1 Lakh or 10 Percent of value of property, or imprisonment for 3 to 5 years to stop acquiring properties through illegal means in disturbed areas.
Note: –
It is already in force in various parts of Gujarat which includes Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Himmatnagar, Godhra, Kapadvanj and Bharuch.
Recent Related News:
i.On 15th September 2020, Gujarat signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide capacity building and market support around 35 lakh Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of Gujarat and to increase their self-reliance.
ii.On June 26, The Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani launched the online aid initiative ‘At One Click’ with Rs 1,369 crore for around 13000 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) (i.e. MSMEs and textile industries) in Gujarat.
About Gujarat:
Nuclear Power Plant – Kakrapar, Surat.
Dams – SardarSarovar Dam (Narmada river), Ukai Dam (Tapti River), Kadana Dam (Mahi River), Karjan Reservoir (Karjan river).
