NEW DELHI, July 12: The Union Government's housing reforms may have to wait as the Bill repealing the Urban Land Ceiling Regulation Act (ULCRA) has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Affairs.The Government referred the Bill to the Committee last week, apparently after over 60 MPs, cutting across party lines, submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister in this regard. The MPs had demanded that the Bill should not be passed in a hurry and should be referred to a standing committee for ``a detailed and objective examination.''With this the chances of the Bill (introduced in the Lok Sabha on June 11) being passed in the current budget session had now become remote.Union Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani, however, told the The Indian Express he was confident that the Bill would be passed in the current session itself. While admitting that certain sections opposed to the Act's repeal were working hard to delay the passage of the Bill, the Minister said the Government wasdetermined to see the Bill through, notwithstanding its reference to a standing committee.Interestingly, soon after it came to power, the Government had toyed with the idea of promulgating an ordinance to scrap ULCRA. But later it decided to introduce a Bill since Parliament was in session.With the Bill being referred to the Standing Committee for necessary scrutiny and amendments, all hopes for a quick scrapping of the 22-year-old Act seem to have receded, notwithstanding the Urban Affairs Minister's optimism.According to Standing Committee chairman K.S. Sangwan, the Bill is yet to be circulated among the committee members. He said a meeting of the committee had been called on July 22 to set the agenda for discussions on the Bill. Consequent to the July 22 meeting, the next meeting, slated a week later, would begin the scrutiny of the Bill.Sangwan said there was no time-frame within which the standing committee is to submit its recommendations to the Urban Affairs Ministry and that the entireprocess of scrutiny, discussion and recommendations could involve several meetings and months.As per the procedure involved in the passage of a Bill, the standing committee will submit its recommendations or amendments to the Urban Affairs ministry. The Government will then consider the suggested amendments and put the Bill before Parliament, with or without the amendments.Much of the hype over the drastic reforms in the housing sector hinges on the decision to repeal ULCRA, which, it is reasoned, will release land for construction activity and also bring down the artificially inflated land prices in towns and cities. It is also in keeping with the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto which promised two million dwelling units a year in the country.Although, it was the Gujral Government which had first decided in principle to repeal ULCRA, the present government could go ahead with the proposal because the mandatory constitutional provision - that the legislative assemblies of at least two States adoptresolutions calling for its repeal - was met with by Punjab and Haryana.Countering criticism over the Act's repeal, Jethmalani had recently stated that the Government is bound to scrap ULCRA since Punjab and Haryana had adopted resolutions to this effect.The Bill, if passed, will only come into effect in Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territories. The rest of the States will have to pass necessary legislation for its repeal before it comes into effect there. The States are at liberty to either adopt the Bill as it is or make necessary amendments.
