DISTURBED AREA ACT

DISTURBED AREA ACT

Subject: Legislations

Context: The Gujarat High Court directed the state government to not issue any fresh notification in operation of the amended sections of the Disturbed Areas Act, which deals with “improper clustering”, until further hearing.

Concept:

About the Act:

• The Act was first introduced in Ahmedabad in 1986.
• It is formally known as Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Properties and provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in the Disturbed Areas act.
• Under the DA Act, a District Collector can notify a particular area of a city or town as a “disturbed area”. This notification is generally done based on the history of communal riots in the area.
• Following this notification, the transfer of immovable property in the disturbed area can take place only after the Collector expressly signs off on an application made by the buyer and the seller of the property.
• In the application, the seller has to attach an affidavit stating that she/he has sold the property of her/his free volition, and that she/he has got a fair market price.
• Violation of the Act’s provisions, that is, if property in a notified disturbed area is transferred without the Collector’s permission, invites imprisonment and a fine.
• The state government claims it is aiming to check communal polarisation of various parts of the state through the Act.
• The DA Act is applicable in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Himmatnagar, Godhra, Kapadvanj and Bharuch.

2020 Amendments

• Section 2(d)– concept of “proper clustering of persons” as has been introduced and defined.
• Section 3 subsection 1 (ii) and (iii)– government can notify any area as a ‘disturbed area’ where it sees the possibility of a communal riot, or where it sees the possibility of a particular community’s polarisation.