Disturbed Areas Act: Now,transfer of property may depend on collectors’ sweet will

The amendment Bill,a copy of which has been obtained by Newsline,seeks to empower the district collector to hold inquiry suo muto or on an application from any person in cases where the possession of immovable property is in contravention of the relevant provisions of the Act.

The proposed amendment also provides for penalty for contravention of these provisions,and making the offence cognisable.

A provision has also been made in the Bill,further empowering the collector to take such property in his custody temporarily,manage the property in case transfer or fails to take its possession back,and also restrain a person (transferee) from making any improvement in the property.

Reacting to the move,Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Juvan Momin said,“Barring the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat,no communal disturbances have been reported since 1991 in the Ahmedabad areas that had been declared as the disturbed ones about two decades ago. Hence,there is no need now of such an Act which the government should scrap,leave alone its amendment.”

Momin said there was nothing wrong if Hindus and Muslims entered into a mutual deal to sell/buy their respective immovable properties (houses) in the “disturbed areas” of Ahmedabad. “Certain provisions of the very Act amount to violation of the Constitutional rights of members of both the communities,for it prohibits them from selling or buying their properties to each other,” he said.

The GPCC leader said there are about 30,000 immovable properties that have been sold in the “disturbed areas” of Ahmedabad,but the buyers of these properties continue to hold the possession of such properties without having any legal documents relating to the property deals. “In the absence of property deal documents,the government stands to lose the stamp duty revenue of a whopping Rs 50 crore,” he said.

At present,this controversial Disturbed Areas Act is being implemented in the areas falling under 32 police stations across the Ahmedabad city,mainly in the Muslim-dominated walled-city localities of Kalupur,Shahpur,Dariapur,Astodia and Raikhad,besides Paldi.

“The very existence of the Act conveys a negative message to both the communities in these areas which can no longer be described as the disturbed ones in the present situation. Hence,the government should scrap it forthwith to maintain communal harmony in the city,” said Momin.