Gujarat assembly passes Impact fee bill and two other bills

Gandhinagar, 26 September, 2011

Gujarat assembly today on the first day of monsoon session unanimously passed an amended version of Unauthorized Construction Regulation Bill with cut of date of 28 March, 2011.

The original version of this bill was passed in the budget session of the state assembly but returned by the state governor Kamla Beniwal for reconsideration.

Governor had said in her objection to Impact fee bill that there was no transparent provision in it to ensure that illegal constructions in urban areas would not recur after the payment of fine. The governor had insisted, “The Bill should specifically provide that any new unauthorized/ illegal constructions that might take place after a certain cut-off date would not be regularized under any circumstances.” Modi govt has accepted this point approving an amendment the Modi cabinet has cleared an amendment to the Gujarat Regularization of Unauthorized Development Bill, 2011, fixing a cut-off date, March 28, 2011. Illegal structures raised after this will not be regularized.

Two other bills passed today were Private University bill and Gujarat Primary Education bill. While Gujarat Primary Education Bill is a new bill, the Private University bill was reintroduced today with amendments suggested by Governor. The bill was earlier passed in last session of assembly but was returned back by Governor saying these colleges were built on government subsidies and the bill allows grant-in-aid colleges to be turned into private universities, forcing thousands of students to pay higher fees.

Details of the original version of the bill