Shimla: On the penultimate day of the last session of the current Vidhan Sabha, the BJP government, on the floor of the house announced repealing of HP Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 2005, a contentious law that has been grossly misused.
Making a statement in the Vidhan Sabha about repealing the law, Mahender Singh, minister for Town and Country Planning said, “until such time that the new law is enacted, no registrations and issuing of essentiality certificates and licenses will be done or renewed under the Apartment Act.”
Effectively bringing all property transactions that were permissible under the Apartment Act to a grinding halt, the government intends to bring forth a comprehensive law for urban and regional planning so as to save on the cumbersome procedure.
The minister said that the government had taken a decision to repeal the Apartment Act on recommendation of a Vidhan Sabha select committee and on the recommendation of DP Sood Commission on Benami Land deals.
“After examining the entire legislative framework of urban development and regional planning it is felt that a single comprehensive law which subsumes the objectives of HP Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, Himachal Urban Development Authority Act and the Apartment Act should be enacted,” stated the minister.
“Existence of multiple agencies and statues to regulate urban growth and corridors results in haphazard map approval process, unplanned development and coming up of unauthorized constructions and also makes the procedures complex,” said Mahender Singh.
Currently regulation of Urbanization and regional planning was being controlled by the various statues namely HP Town and Country Planning Act 1977, HP MC Act 1994 and HP apartment and property Act 2005, HP Housing and Urban Development Authority 2004.
All these law were implemented by multiple authorities namely: Town and Country Planning Development Urban, Urban Local Bodies, HIMUDA, Special Area Development Authorities and others.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
