Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority Act, 1985
No: 20 Dated: Nov, 14 1987
Amendment:- Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 1989
Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority Act, 1985
(Assam Act No. 20 of 1987)
An Act to provide for the establishment of an Authority for the planned development of the Guwahati Metropolitan Area, and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto:
Preamble. - Whereas it is expedient to provide for the establishment of an Authority for the enforcement and execution of the Master Plan and for the formulation and execution of schemes for the planned development of Guwahati Metropolitan Area, for the co-ordination and supervision of the execution of such plans and schemes with the object of securing proper living and sanitary conditions, to conserve and promote the public health, safety and general welfare of the people living therein and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
It is hereby enacted in the Thirty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority Act, 1985.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of Guwahati Metropolitan Area excluding any area to which the provisions of the Cantonments Act, 1924 apply.
(3) It shall cone into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette appoint.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context.
(1) "Agriculture" including horticulture, farming, growing of crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, grass, fodder and trees, or any kind of cultivation of soil, breeding and keeping of live-stock including cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs and poultry, and the use of land which is ancillary to the farming of land or any other agricultural purposes, but shall not include the use of any land attached to a building for the purpose of a garden to be used along with such building; and the expression "agricultural" shall be constructed accordingly.
(2) "Amenities" includes roads and streets, open spaces, parks, recreational grounds, playgrounds, water and electric supply, street lighting, sewerage, drainage, public works and other utilities, services and convenience as the State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify to be an amenity for the purposes of this Act.
(3) "Authority" means the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority constituted under Section 4 of this Act.
(4) "Betterment Fee" means the fee prescribed in respect of an increase in the value of land resulting from the execution of a Development Schemes.
(5) "Building" means any construction for whatsoever purpose and of whatsoever materials constructed and every part thereof, whether used as human habitation or not and includes plinth walls, chimney, drainage, works, fixed platforms, verandah, balcony, cornice or projection, or part of a building and anything affixed thereto or any walls, earth bank, fence or other construction enclosing or delimiting or intended to enclose or delimit any land or space.
(6) "Building operations" includes-
(a) creation or re-erection of a building or any part of it.
(b) Roofing or re-roofing a building or any part of a building or an open space.
(7) "Commerce" means the carrying on of any trade, business or profession, sale or exchange of goods of any type whatsoever, and includes the running of, with a view to making profit, hospitals, nursing homes, infirmaries, educational institutions and also hotels, restaurants, boarding houses not attached to any educational institution, and sarais; and the expression "commercial" shall be construed accordingly:
(8) "Development" with its grammatical variations means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations, in, on, over, or under land or the making of any material change in any building or land or in the use of any building or land and includes divisions of any land;
(9) "Factory" means a place to which the provisions of the Indian Factories Act of 1934, or any amendment thereof shall apply.
(10) "Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority" means the Authority constituted under Section 4 of this Act.
(11) "Industry" includes the carrying on of any manufacturing process as defined in the Factories act, 1948, and the expression "industrial" shall be construed accordingly.
(12) "Land" shall have the same meaning as in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 18940 and shall include land covered by water.
(13) "Local authority" means the Guwahati Municipal Corporation or Board or a Committee or any other authority legally entitled to, or entrusted by the state Government with the control or management of Municipal or local fund or which is permitted by the state Government to exercise the powers of a local authority and includes a Mahkuma Parishad and Gaon Panchayat constituted under the Assam Panchayat Raj Act, 1972 and as amended.
(14) "Local Newspaper" in relation to Guwahati Metropolitan Area means any newspaper published or circulated within the Guwahati Metropolitan Area.
(15) "Master Plan" means the plan as defined under section 16 of this Act.
(16) "Notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette.
(17) "Occupier" includes any person paying or liable to pay rent or any portion of the rent of the land or building in respect of which the work is due or compensation or premium on account of the occupation of such land and building and also a rent free tenant.
(18) "Open space" means any land whether enclosed or not on which not more than one-twentieth part is covered with building and the reminder has been laid out as a public garden or used for purpose of recreation or lies waste and unoccupied.
(20) "Operational construction" means any construction, whether temporary or permanent, which is necessary for the operation, maintenance, development or execution of any of the following services:
(i) Railways.
(ii) National Highways.
(iii) National Waterways,
(iv) Major Ports,
(v) Airways and Aerodromes.
(vi) Posts and Telegraphs, Telephones, Wireless, Broadcasting and other like forms of communication.
(vii) Regional grid for electricity.
(viii) Any other services which the State Government may, if it is of opinion that the operation, maintenance, development or execution of such other services is essential to the life of the community, by notification, declare to be services for the purposes of this clause.
Explanation. - For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the construction of-
(i) new residential buildings not connected with operations like gate, lodges, hospitals, clubs, institution, schools, railway colony, roads, drains, etc., in the case of railways, and
(ii) a new building, new structure, new installation or any extension thereof, in the case of any other service;
shall not be deemed to be construction within the meaning of this clause;
(20) "owner" includes a mortgage in possession, a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, or has received, the rent or premium for any land whether on his own account or on account of, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any other person or as an agent, trustee, guardian or received for any other person or for any religious or charitable institution or who would so receive the rent or premium if the land were let to a tenant; and also includes the Head of a Department or an Undertaking of the Central or a State Government, the General Manager of a Railway, the Secretary, or other principal officer of a local authority, statutory authority or company in respect of properties under their respective control.
(21) "Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
(22) "Public place" means any place or building which is open to the use or enjoyment of the public whether it is actually used or enjoyed by the public or not and whether the entry is regulated by any charge or not;
(23) "Reconstituted plot" means a plot which is in any way altered by the making of a Development Schemes.
(24) "Residence" means the use for human habitation of any land or building or part thereof including gardens, grounds, garages, stables and out-houses, if any appertaining to such buildings, and the expression "residential" shall be construed accordingly.
(25) "Road" means and includes any highway, street, lane, pathway, alley, passageway, carriage way, footway, square, bridge, whether private or public, whether thoroughfare or not, whether existing or proposed in any scheme and includes all bunds, channels, ditches, drains culverts, side walks and traffic island.
(26) "Scheme" means a developments schemes and includes a plan or plans together with the descriptive matter if any relating to such a scheme as defined in Section 36 of this Act.
CHAPTER II
Declaration of Guwahati Metropolitan Area and constitution of Guwahati Metropolitan Area Authority
3. Declaration of Guwahati Metropolitan Area. - (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare the area covered by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Area and any other areas contiguous to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Area, to be the Guwahati Metropolitan Area for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The State Government may, if it thinks fit, by notification in the Official Gazette, enlarge, curtail or modify the Guwahati Metropolitan Area or any part thereof.
(3) Every such notification shall define the limits of the area to which it relates.
4. Constitution of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority. - (1) As soon as may be, after the commencement of this Act, the State Government shall be notification in the Official Gazette, constitute for the purposes of this Act, an Authority to be called "The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority" (hereinafter referred to as the Authority) with jurisdiction over the Guwahati Metropolitan Area.
(2) The Authority shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal with power, subject to the provision of this Act, to acquire, hold dispose of properties both moveable and immoveable and to enter into any agreement or contract, and shall by the said name sue and be sued.