ACT, 1976 THE URBAN LAND (CEILING AND REGULATION)

1 THE URBAN land ( ceiling ANDREGULATION)ACT, 1976No. 33 OF 1976[17thFebruary,1976]An Act to provide for the imposition of a ceiling on vacant landin URBAN agglomerations, for the acquisition of such land inexcess of the ceiling limit, to regulate the construction ofbuildings on such land and for matters connected therewith,with a view to preventing the concentration of URBAN land inthe hands of a few persons and speculation and profiteeringtherein and with a view to bringing about an equitable distri-bution of land in URBAN agglomerations to subserve the it is expedient to provide for the imposition of a ceiling onvacant land in URBAN agglomerations, for the acquisition of such land inexcess of the ceiling limit.

2 To regulate the construction of buildings onsuch land and for matters connected therewith, with a view to prevent-ing the concentration of URBAN land in the hands of a few persons andspeculation and profiteering therein and with a view to bringing aboutan equitable distribution of land in URBAN agglomerations to subserve thecommon good;AND WHEREAS Parliament has, no power to lna$e laws for the Stateswithrespect to the matters aforesaid except as providedin articles 249and 250of theConstitution;Shorttitle,applica_tion URBAN land (Ceilingand Regulation) LACT 33 AND WHEREAS in pursuanceof clause (1) of article 252 of the Consti-tution resolutions have been passed by all the Houses of the Legislaturesof the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,Karnataka, Maharashtra, orissa , Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal that the matters aforesaid should be regulated in thoseStates by Parliament by law;BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-seventh Year of theRepublic of India as follows:-CHAPTER IPRELIMINARY1.

3 (1) This Act may be called the URBAN land ( ceiling and Regula-tion) Act, 1976.(2) It applies in the first instance to the whole of the States of AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, orissa , Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and to all theUnion territories and it shall also apply to such other State which adoptsthis Act by resolution passed in that behalf under clause (1) of article 252of the Constitution.(3) It shall come into force in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, orissa , Punjab,Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and in the Union territories atonce and in any other State which adopts this Act under clause (1) ofarticle 252 of the Constitution, on the date of such adoption; and, saveas otherwise provided in this Act, any reference in this Act to the com-mencementof this Actshall, in relationto any State or Union territory,mean the date on which thisAct comesinto forcein such Stateor IIDEFINITIONS2.

4 In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a) "appointed day" means,-(i) in relation to any State to which this Act applies in thefirst instance, the date of introduction of the URBAN land (Ceil-ing and Regulation) Bill, 1976 inParliament; and(ii) in relationto any State which adopts this Act underclause(1) of article 252 of the Constitution, the date of suchadoption;(b) "building regulations " means the regulations contained inthe masterplan, or the law in force governing the construction ofbuildings;(c) " ceiling limit"means the ceilinglimit specifiedin section 4;(d) "competent authority" means any person or authorityauthorised by the State Government, by notification in the OfficialGazette, to perform the functions of the competent authority underthis Act for sucharea as maybe specified in the notification anddifferentpersons orauthorities may be authorised to performdifferentfunctions;(e) "dwellingunit", in relation to a building or a portion of abuilding,meansa unit of accommodation, in such building or solely for the purpose of residence.

5 (f) "family", in relationto a person,meansthe individual, thewife or husband,as the casemay be, of such individual and their un-married minor 1976] UrbanLand(CeilingandRegulation) purpose of this clause, "minor" means aperson who has not completed his or her age of eighteen years;(g) " land appurtenant", in relation to any building, means-(i) in an area where there are building regulations , theminimum extent of land required under such regulations to bekept as open space for the enjoyment of such building, which inno case shall exceed five hundred square metres; or(ii) in an area where there are no building regulations , anextent of five hundred square metres contiguous to the landoccupied by such building,and includes, in the case of any building constructed before theappointed day with a dwelling unit therein, an additional extent notexceeding five hundred square metres of land , if any, contiguous tothe minimum extent referred to in sub-clause (i) or the extentreferred to in sub-clause (ii), as the case may be.

6 (h) "master plan", in relation to an area within an URBAN agglo-meration or any part thereof, means the plan (by whatever namecalled) prepared under any law for the time being in force or inpursuance of an order made by the State Government for the de-velopment of such area or part thereof and providing for the stagesby which such development shall be carried out;(i) "person" includes an individual, a family, a firm, a company,or an association or body of individuals, whether incorporated ornot;2 of 1924.(j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(k) "State" includes a Union territory and "State Government",in relation to any land or building situated in a Union territory orwithin the local limits of a cantonment declared as such under sec-tion 3 of the Cantonments Act.

7 1924, means the Central Government:(1) "to hold" with its grammatical variations, in relation to anyvacant land , means-(i) to own such land ; or(ii) to possess such land as owner oras tenantor as mort-gagee or under an irrevocable power of attorney or under a hire-purchase agreement or partly inone ofthe said capacities andpartly in any other of the said capacityor the same vacant land is held by one personin one capacity and by another person in another capacity, then, forthe purposes of this Act, such land shall be deemed to be held byboth such persons;fm) "Tribunal" means the URBAN land Tribunal constitutedunder section 12;(n) " URBAN agglomeration",-(A) in relation to any State or Union territory specified incolumn (1) of Schedule I, means,-(i) the URBAN agglomeration specified in the correspond-ing entry in column (2) thereofand includesthe peripheralarea specified in the corresponding entry in column (3)thereof.

8 And(ii) anyother area which the State Government may,with the previous approval of the Central Government,having regard to its location, population (population beingmore than one lakh) and such other relevant factors as thecircumstances of the case may require, by notification in the4 URBAN land (CEILING and Regulation) [ACT 33 Official Gazette, declare to be an URBAN agglomeration andany agglomeration so declaredshall be deemed to belong tocategory D in that Schedule and the peripheralareathereforshall be one kilometre;(B) in relation to any other State or Union territory, meansany area which the State Government may, with the previousapproval of the Central Government, having regard to its loca-tion, population (population being more than one lakh) and suchother relevant factors as the circumstances of the case mayrequire, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be anurban agglomeration and any agglomeration so declared shall bedeemed to belong to category D in Schedule I and the peripheralarea therefor shall be one kilometre;(o) " URBAN land "means,-(i) any land situated within the limits of an URBAN agglo-meration and referred to as such in the master plan.]

9 Or(ii) in a casewhere thereis nomaster plan, or where themaster plan does not refer to any land as URBAN land , any landwithin the limits of an URBAN agglomeration and situated inany area included within the local limits of a municipality (bywhatever name called), a notified area committee, a town areacommittee, a city and town committee,a smalltown committee,.a cantonmentboard or a panchayat,but does not include any such land which is mainly used for thepurpose of the purpose of this clause and clause (q),-(A) "agriculture" includes horticulture, but does notinclude-(i) raisingof grass,(ii) dairy farming,(iii) poultry farming,(iv) breeding of live-stock, and(v) such cultivation, or the growing of suchplant, as:may be prescribed.

10 (B) land shall not be deemed to be used mainly for thepurpose of agriculture, if such land is not entered in the revenueor land records before the appointed day as for the purpose ofagriculture:Provided that where on any land which is entered in therevenue or land records before the appointed day as for thepurpose of agriculture, there is a building which is not in thenature of a farm-house, then, so much of the extent of suchland as isoccupied by the building shall not be deemed to beused mainly for the purpose of agriculture:Provided further that if any question arises whether anybuildingis inthe nature of a farm-house, such question shall bereferred to the State Government and the decision of the StateGovernment thereon shall be final;(C) notwithstanding anything contained in clause (B) ofthis Explanation, land shall not be deemed to be mainly usedfor the purpose of agriculture if the land has been specified inthe masterplan for apurpose other than agriculture;of 1976] URBAN land (CeilingandRegulation)(p) "urbanisable land " means land situated within an urbanagglomeration, but not being URBAN land .