In an attempt to woo 30 lakh odd-people living in unauthorised colonies for the general municipal elections scheduled for April next year, the AAP Government is in the process of amending the Delhi land Reforms Act 1954 for conversion of agricultural land use carrying out commercial and residential activities in the national Capital. The Revenue Department has sought public opinion on the proposed amendments.
If the amendments are made in the Act, regularisation of 1,000 of the 1,739 unauthorised colonies on the agricultural land will be easier and the same land can be used for carrying out commercial activities in the national Capital.
A notice issued by the department said amendments to various provisions of Delhi land Reforms Act, 1954 covering Sections such as 23, 33, 73, 75, 81, 82, 85, etc, are contemplated as the Act did not envisage large scale urbanisation or unauthorised colonisation of agriculture land.
“Delhi is a prime urban centre of the country, being national Capital. However, with continued pressure of population moving from villages to urban areas and from smaller towns to bigger towns coupled with expansion of village population, there is a strong demand for land for the purposes of housing/non-agriculture activities,” it said.
The Act was not created to address this demand, its objective was agriculture. Urbanisation is, however, being regulated and controlled by another law —Delhi Development Act, 1957. Delhi Development Authority has been involved not only in planning but also development. Some people hold the view that the existing arrangement has failed in supplying the housing and other non-agricultural land use needs of the public and has not been able to deal with the fast pace of urbanisation, it further said.
The notice said there is a need to amend Section 81/82 of the Act, under which the use of land, for any purpose other than agricultural and connected activities like horticulture, animal husbandry, pisciculture, poultry farms, is penalised under Section 81/82 of the Act, so that there is a route of planned development available to the public.
The Government has proposed to replace the Sections 81 and 82 of the Act with the provision that “Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, including Delhi Development Act 1957, the Government may permit conversion of agricultural land into non-agriculture use as prescribed in the rules subject to prevailing planning norms.”
The Government has also proposed to do away with Sections 23, 33, 55 to 61, 73 to 75, and 85 as well as Schedule/Rules/Appendix and forms related to these Sections in the DlR Act, 1954.
The proposed amendments seek to allow a Bhumidar to partition his agriculture or non-agriculture land through mutual settlement with other co-owners, duly registered and after payment of stamp duty applicable to conveyance, and apply to the Revenue Assistant for ordering the corrections in the revenue records.
The erstwhile Sheila Dikshit Government had also approved a proposal through Cabinet decision regarding applicability of provisions of Section 81 of the DlR Act 1954. Following the Cabinet decision, the Revenue Department had also brought in a circular in this regard.
To ensure development to public as per planning norms and curb illegal colonisation, the Government has proposed stringent provisions to act/penalise against illegal colonizers. “Provided any person contravening the aforesaid provision shall be liable for imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to Rs10lakh or both,” it said.
A senior official, however, said that the land use in Delhi could be changed only after getting amendments done in the Delhi land Reforms Act. Since the land is under the jurisdiction of the Centre, these amendments can be effected only through an Act of Parliament. The State administration has no control over land, police and public order in Delhi.
Earlier Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had directed the Secretary (revenue) to bring in a Cabinet proposal for replacement of Section 81 (ejectment for use of land in contravention of the provision of this Act) and removal of Section 33 of the Delhi land Reforms Act 1954. According to Section 81 of the DlR Act, agricultural land should be used for agricultural purposes only. Many officials are of the view that Sections 81 and 33 need to be removed to put an end to the harassment meted out to the farmers.