The Gujarat government has proposed amendments to the Disturbed Areas Act of 1991, including the appointment of a monitoring and advisory committee to advise the government about an area’s potential for communal disturbance leading to the “involuntary displacement” of its residents, expanding the definition of “aggrieved persons” to those residing in the area instead of just the seller and buyer of the immovable property, and to replace “disturbed area” with “specified area” in such cases.
The Bill amending the Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act—popularly called the Disturbed Areas Act—is expected to be tabled in the ongoing Budget Session of the Assembly next week.
The Gujarat High Court had earlier stayed the implementation of the amendments proposed by the state government in 2020, particularly the sections that expanded the Act’s scope based on “demographic imbalance”. These amendments tightened property transfer restrictions in areas deemed “communally sensitive”. They also enhanced the district collector’s powers to prevent property transfers between religious communities, aiming to prevent “demographic imbalances”. In October 2023, the state government informed the court that it was reconsidering the amendments.
The Act prohibits the transfer of immovable property in ‘disturbed areas’ of the state.
The current Bill states that during the implementation of the Act, it was seen that in many cases “properties are transferred in contravention of the provisions of the Act and unscrupulous persons come in illegal possession”.
While the words “disturbed area” and “disturbed areas” are proposed to be substituted with the words “specified area” and “specified areas”, respectively, the definition of “person aggrieved” in the existing law—limited to the “transferor and transferee” of the property—has been expanded to “a person residing in the specified area declared as such by the state government”.
As per the draft Bill, in place of the existing provision in the Act for declaration of an area as ‘disturbed area’, a new provision will be substituted to expand the instances for declaration to include “situations where an area of the state has become or is likely to become prone to disturbance of public order due to communal tensions between the communities residing in the area”, with a view to preventing “involuntary displacement of persons residing in such area”.
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This is where the monitoring and advisory committee comes in. As per the proposed amendment, the committee “shall conduct or cause to be conducted studies in any area in the state to ascertain and advise the state government from time to time, whether the public order in the said area of the state was disturbed for a substantial period by reason of riot or violence of mob or whether the said area of the state has become or is likely to become prone to disturbance of public order due to communal tension between the communities residing in the said area, which may result in involuntary displacement of persons residing in the said area”.
Defining ‘disturbed area’
Under the existing Act, the Gujarat government can declare an area as a disturbed area in three cases:
* if, considering the intensity and duration of riots or mob violence and other such factors, public order in that area was disturbed for a substantial period due to riot or mob violence
* if polarisation of people belonging to a single community has occurred, or is likely to occur, thereby disturbing the demographic equilibrium of different communities residing in that area
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* or if improper clustering of people belonging to one community has taken place or is likely to take place, where the mutual and peaceful coherence among different communities “may go haywire” in that area; or the area becomes prone to disturbance of public order
Areas with ‘likelihood of communal tension’ to be covered
While the collector will continue to sanction transfers of such immovable properties in the “specified” areas, while deciding an application for granting sanction, the collector shall also take into consideration “the likelihood of breach of public order due to communal tension between the communities residing in the area, and accordingly make the decision on such application and for that purpose, necessary amendment is proposed,” the Bill adds.
To safeguard the property of the transferor when a transferor fails to take possession of such property, “the collector shall, suo-motu or on an application made by any person aggrieved temporarily take such property in his custody”, as per the amendments proposed.
Further, as several cases of the 1991 Act and its 2020 amendments remain pending in the Gujarat High Court, with challenges focusing on its constitutional validity, particularly restrictions on property transfers, the Bill states that it is “considered necessary to avoid any unnecessary hardship to the persons for obtaining the approval for transfer of any immovable property situated in a specified area by way of mortgage in favour of a financial institution for the purpose of obtaining financial assistance from such institution and for that purpose, necessary amendment is proposed”.
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The proposed law also provides for a Special Investigation Team to assist the collector for the purpose of determining such areas that could experience breach of public order due to communal tension, the draft Bill says.
