Bombay Queen Victoria statue site (and adjoining land utilization for construction of Satellite Telecommunications Exchanges of the Overseas Communications Service) Act, 1968
No: 5 Dated: Mar, 19 1968
THE BOMBAY QUEEN VICTORIA SITE (AND ADJOINING LAND UTILIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXCHANGES OF THE OVERSEAS COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE) ACT, 1968
ACT No. V OF 1968
An Act to make provision for placing the Queen Victoria statue site at Bombay and certain land adjacent thereto at the disposal of the Government of India for setting up of Satellite Telecommunications Exchanges of the Overseas Communications Service and for that purpose to amend the Bombay municipal Corporation Act and to take power to make certain changes in the Development Plan, Development Control Rules and Building Regulations, etc.
WHEREAS, by Section 89-B of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, all the estate, right, title and interest of Government in and to the statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria and the site thereof in the Esplanade Road at Bombay were vested in the Municipal Corporation and it was provided that the, said statue and the said site shall thereafter, be held by the Corporation in trust as a public monument;
AND WHEREAS, the said statue (along with other statues of foreign sovereigns and administrators) has been removed from the said site, on the 12th day of August 1965;
AND WHEREAS, the purpose for which the site was vested and the trust was created, no longer exist; AND WHEREAS, it is expedient that the said trust be revoked and extinguished and the said site which is vested in the Corporation therefor be divested from the Corporation and revested in the State Government; AND WHEREAS, the said site and certain land adjacent thereto are immediately required for th setting up of Satellite Telecommunications Exchanges of the Overseas Communications Service for participating in the Global Satellite Communications System beirsgset up for the carriage of international public communications by the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortiui (INTELSAT) consisting of 60 nations (of which India Is a member) who are signatories to an agreement fr setting up a global comnunications satellite system;
AND WHEREAS, the said site and the land adjacent thereto are most suitable for the said Excbanges; being within the required distance of the Waudby Road Exchange through which the messages and information received, will be distributed throughout India;
AND WHEREAS, it is necessary to make immediate provision for placing the said site of the Queen’s statue aforesaid and certain land adjacent thereto at the disposal of the Government of India in the Ministry of Communications for the aforesaid purpose, for the immediate commencement of construction of the Exchanges, and also to make consequential and supplemental provisions (including any changes which may be necessary in the Development Plan for Greater Bombay, the Development Control Rules, the Municipal Corporation Building Regulations and in matters related thereto), for enabling the speedy construction and efficient working thereafter, of the Exchanges aforesaid ;
It is hereby enacted in the Nineteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows :–
1. Short titte and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called the Bombay Queen Victoria statue site (and adjoining land utilization for construction of Satellite Telecommunications Exchanges of the Overseas Communications Service) Act, 1968.
(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 12th day of January 1968.
2. Vesting of Queen Victoria statue site at Bombay and adjoining land in Government and payment of compensation to Municipal Corporation:- (1) The statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria having been removed from the site vested in and held by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay in trust as statue site a public monument and the site no longer being required for the purpose of the trust, the trust aforesaid shall be and is hereby revoked and extinguished and all the estate, right, title and interest of the Corporation in and to the said site shall be and is hereby divested from the Corporation and is hereby revested, without further assurance, in the State Government, free from all rights and liabilities and charges of whatsoever affecting the same and the State Government shall take possession immediately of the said site. In consequence of the revocation and extinguishment of the said trust, Section 89-B of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act shall be deleted and in the proviso to Section 92 of the said Act, the words "to the statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria or" shall be deleted and for the words, figures and letters "or to the sites thereof referred to in Sections 89-B and 89-C" the words, figures and letter "or to the site thereof referred to in Section 89-C" shall be substituted.
(2) The land adjacent to the site of the aforesaid statue, more particularly described in the Schedule, shall be and is hereby divested from the Corporation, and is hereby vested, without further assurance, in the State Government, free from all rights, liabilities and charges whatsoever, whether of individuals or of the Corporation or of the public, affecting the same. The State Government shall take possession immediately of the said land.
(3) For the site and land so revested or vested in the State Government, such compensation may be paid by that Government as may be agreed upon with the Corporation; and In default of agreement as may be determined by a person appointed by the State Government, who shall determine the compensation in accordance with the principles for determining compensation laid down in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and the provisions of that Act (including provisions for reference to Court and appeal) shall apply there to mutatis mutandis as if the Site and land had been acquired and compensation to be determined under the provisions of the said Act.