Gujarat govt to regularise unauthorised constructions in urban areas

The announcement came after Governor Acharya Devvrat gave his consent to Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Ordinance, 2022.

Spokesperson of Gujarat government and senior minister Jitu Vaghani made the announcement after the weekly cabinet meeting of the government chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in which the issue was discussed.

As per the government decision, the ordinance will enable regularisation of unauthorised constructions done within the jurisdiction of all the municipal corporations, urban development authorities and municipalities in the state by paying Impact Fee. And it will apply to any such construction done before October 1, 2022.

The Impact Fee will be charged from the people who seek to regularise their unauthorised residential or commercial construction as per the area covered starting from upto 50 square metre to above 300 square metre.

The collected Impact Fee will be kept as Infrastructure Development Fund to be used for strengthening infrastructure facilities, for erecting parking facilities and for environmental correction.

A person seeking to regularise the unauthorised construction will have to make the application within four months from the date of implementation of the ordinance on the e-Nagar portal of the state government.

The application will have to be decided within six months. And the applicant can appeal before the appellate authority within two months of the decision, if he is aggrieved by the decision of the urban authority.

Unauthorised construction which is not in consonance with fire safety laws, with Gujarat Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2021 or which is done on government land, water body, playground earmarked for schools, land which is marked for public purpose etc. cannot be regularised under the provisions of the ordinance.

Also, construction done on various public utilities like water disposal, electric line, gas line etc. too cannot be regularised.

Provisions of the ordinance will not apply to unauthorised constructions which have been given notices under the provisions of the Real Estate Regulatory Autority (RERA) Act, 2016.

Notably, the Gujarat government had earlier twice brought such a law to regularise unauthorised constructions in the state — in 2001 and in 2011.

Quoting Vaghani, a government release said, “The government has taken this historic decision to help poor and middle class people of the state. People living in one or two room houses along with their families always remain in worry about their unauthorised construction and the government has taken the decision in that direction with sensitivity.”

The release further stated that huge number of buildings without Building Use (BU) permits are there in municipal corporations, urban development authorities and municipalities.

And looking at the sheer prevalence of such constructions and considering a sample survey, a policy was required to be framed so that these constructions get validation equivalent to BU permission.

The release also mentioned that despite bringing similar laws in 2001 and 2011, there are many constructions which could not be regularised.