[mpisgmedia] ULCRA repeal likely to get delayed further

 ULCRA repeal likely to get delayed further[image: Add to
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ABHIRAM GHADYALPATIL

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2007 02:26:12 AM]
   MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government's dismal run with urban reforms under
the Centre's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is not
going to end soon, or so it seems. The government may not repeal the Urban
Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA) during the current Budget session,
knowledgeable sources told ET.

"It should get repealed this session, but I am not sure. It does not seem to
be on the agenda as of now," a senior urban development official said. Even
top bureaucrats in CM Vilasrao Deshmukh's Vision Mumbai team and other urban
development officials share the same feeling as they are not willing to
hazard their guess on the 1976 Act becoming history at least by April 2007.

Ironically, an MoU that the state has signed with the Centre for the JNNURM
sets April 2007 as the deadline for doing away with the ULCRA. In practice,
however, the Deshmukh government has been dragging its feet on this issue.
The CM had promised to scrap the Act during the winter session itself in
December, but his government failed to keep that promise.

Now again, with the April 2007 deadline approaching fast, officials
associated with Mr Deshmukh's Mumbai makeover plans are not quite sanguine
about chances of the DF government finally bringing itself anywhere close to
burying the ULCRA.

Before the budget session, chief secretary DK Sankaran was non-committal on
the ULCRA issue at a press conference organised by Bombay First, a citizens'
action group working in tandem with the state government on Vision Mumbai
project. "I don't know. I can't comment on that," the top bureaucrat had
said.

Another secretary holding a key position vis-à-vis Mumbai revamp plans said
the government did not seem too keen on getting rid of the ULCRA during the
budget session.

"Even if the government wants to scrap it, the Cabinet should first clear
the proposal. That's not a big deal if the government makes up its mind to
repeal the Act. But that does not seem to be the case," he said. Officials
believe that the ULCRA could still come up during the session since
abolishing the Act does not require a separate legislation.

"All the government has to do is to bring in a resolution in the House
seeking the repeal of the legislative piece," an official claimed. "This is
because the Union government has already scrapped the Act in 1998, and the
states where it still exists have just to nullify it through a resolution."

In Mumbai, 338 individuals or trusts together hold 17,097 acres of land
which is eligible for acquisition under the ULCRA. Under the Act, an
individual or a trust cannot hold urban land in excess of 10 acres, and the
government can acquire surplus land to create housing stock for economically
weaker sections.

So far, the government has acquired around 1,500 acres of such land. It will
continue to have the ownership of the acquired land till the Act lapses.
However, around 15,000 acres not acquired in Mumbai, most of it illegal
slums, are likely to get unlocked if the Act goes.