Gandhinagar: Gujarat Assembly today passed The Gujarat Regularization of Unauthorized Development (Amendment) Bill. The bill was passed through a majority as opposition MLAs disagreed with the provisions made in the bill. With the passing of this bill, the deadline for payment of the impact fee has been extended.

Minister Rushikesh Patel while speaking on this bill said – the deadline for the impact fee has been extended on demand of the people. The original bill had a clause 5(2) provisioning four months deadline. The amendment has been made to it and section 5(2A) has been added provisioning that the State government can issue a notification to extend the deadline.

The minister further stated – the bill has been introduced to see that someone’s dream to have a house or some small person’s employment is not ruined. The bill effective from 17 October 2022 covers all 8 municipal corporations, municipalities, and all urban development authority areas.

The minister said – as on 14 February, over 57,000 applications had been received seeking regularization of unauthorized constructions. The minister further stated that unauthorized constructions that have received notice under RERA law will not be regularized as per the provision in the bill. Only those buildings that were used before 1 October 2022 and were unauthorized will be regularized. The fees payable under this bill are also affordable to common citizens, the minister said. DeshGujarat