Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976
[Mah. Act, No. 28 of 1977]1
Preamble
An Act to unify, consolidate and amend the laws relating to housing, repairing and reconstructing dangerous buildings and carrying out improvement works in slum areas.
2[WHEREAS, on account of the rapid growth of industries in the urban areas and the fast growth of population and commercial activities in such areas, the need of housing accommodation could not be met by the limited house construction activities in the private sector;
And WHEREAS, in the urban areas and particularly in the 3[Brihan Mumbai] area the old buildings which have outlived their lives and rendered themselves in a bad state of repairs and presented a dangerous possibility of collapse, necessity was increasingly felt to take up the programme of reapirs and reconstructions of such buildings;
And WHEREAS, due to acute shortage of accommodation in the urban areas slums have come up which necessitated taking up improvement works in slum areas;
AND WHEREAS, the magnitude of the housing programme for constructions of new houses throughout the State and the task of repairs and reconstruction of old and dilapidated buildings and improvement of slums in the urban areas is so, great that it is necessary for the State Government to intervene and take effective step including acquisition of lands and buildings for carrying out housing, repairs, construction and reconstruction programmes over or in such lands and buildings and transferring ownership and control thereof to needy persons so as to bring about an equitable distribution of ownership and control in houses in such lands and buildings to subserve the common good;]
4[AND WHEREAS] there are at present various corporate and statutory bodies in the State which have been established, for dealing with the problem of housing accommodation, for repairing and reconstructing building in a bad state of disrepair and presenting a dangerous possibility of collapse, for carrying out improvemental works in slum areas, and for advancing loans for construction of houses;
AND WHEREAS the programmes undertaken by these bodies are more or less complementary and there is considerable overlapping in their working or functioning;
AND WHEREAS it is considered necessary and expedient to co-ordinate the housing programmes with an orderly development of urban areas in the State;
AND WHEREAS with a view to integrating the activities of these bodies so as to provide for a more comprehensive and co-ordinated approach to the entire problem of housing development, and planning and development of certain areas in a balanced manner, with sufficient attention to ecology, pollution, over-crowding and amenities required for leading a wholesome civic life, it is expedient to established a single Corporate Authority for the whole State and establish new Boards for certain areas of the State to carry out the plans and programmes of such Authority for the purposes aforesaid, to replace the existing Boards by the new Boards aforesaid and to provide for matters connected with the purposes aforesaid; It is hereby enacted in the Twenty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
Footnotes:
-
For Statement of objects and Reasons, see Maharashtra Government Gazette, 1976, Part V, Extraodinary, dated 26th July 1976, at pages 581-587; for Joint Committee Report, see Maharashtra Government Gazette, Part V, Extraordinary, dated 6th December 1976, at pages 683-764.
-
These paragraphs were inserted by Mah. 21 of 1986, notwithstanding anything contained in any Judgement, decree or order of any Court, and shall be deemed always to have been, inserted, by s. 2(a).
-
These words were substituted for the words "Greater Bombay" by Mah. 25 of 1996, s. 2, Sch. (3).
-
These words were substituted for the word 'WHEREAS' by Mah. 21 of 1986.
Chapter: 1 - PRELIMINARY
Section 1 - Short title, extent and commencement of Act
1. Short title, extent and commencement of Act. 1[***]
(1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976.
(2) 2[Chapter VII and Chapter VIII-A extend] only to Greater Bombay, and the rest of the Act extends to the whole State of Maharashtra including Greater Bombay.
(3) This Act shall come into force in such area, from such date3, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act for different areas.
4[******]
Footnotes:
-
The words and figures "and duration of Chapter VIII" were deleted, by Mah. 21 of 1986, s. 3(c).
-
These words and figures were substituted for the words and figures "Chapter VIII extends" by Mah. 21 of 1986, s. 3(a).
-
The whole of the State of Maharashtra with effect from the 5th December 1977, vide G.N., P.W. and H.D., No. MHA. 1077/(3)/Desk-44, dated the 3rd December 1977.
-
Sub-section (4) was deleted by Mah. 21 of 1986, s. 3(b).
Section 1A - Declaration
1 [1A. Declaration
It is hereby declared that this Act is for giving effect to the policy of the State towards securing the principle specified in clause (b) of article 39 of the Constitution of India and the execution of the proposals, plans or projects therefor and the acquisition therefor of the lands and buildings and transferring the lands, buildings or tenements therein to the needy persons and the co-operative societies of occupiers of such lands or buildings.]
Footnote:
-
Section 1A was inserted, by Mah. 21 of 1986, s. 4.
Section 2 - Definitions
In this Act, unless the context requires otherwise,-
(1)"amenity" includes road, bridge, any other means of communication, transport, supply of water and electricity, any other source of energy, street lighting, drainage, sewerage, educational and welfare projects, markets and conservancy, and any convenience which the State Government may, in consultation with the Authority, from time to time by notification in the Official Gazette, specify to be an amenity required for leading a wholesome civic life for the purposes of this Act;
(2)"appointed day" means the day on which the Authority is duly constituted under section 6;
(3)"Authority" means the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority established under section 3;
(4)"Authority premises" means any premises belonging to, or vesting in the Authority, or taken on lease by the Authority, or entrusted to, or placed at the disposal of, the Authority for management and use for the purposes of this Act;
Explanation.--In this clause "Authority premises" includes any premises taken by persons from the Authority under hire-purchase agreement, during the period any payments are to be made by such person to the Authority under such agreement or until such agreement is duly terminated;
(5)"betterment charges" means charges payable under section 53;
(6)"Board" means a Board established under section 18;
(7)"Building" for the proposes of Chapter VIII, means building in respect of which the cess is levied under that Chapter and includes a tenement let or intended to be let or occupied separately and a house, out-house, stable, shed, hut and every other such structure but does not include any such building or structure which as a whole is unauthorised or any building which is a temporary building as defined in clause (sb) of section 3of 1 [the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act];
(8)"bye-laws" means bye-laws made under section 186;
(9)"cess" means a tax on lands and buildings levied or leviable under Chapter VIII of this Act;
(10)"chairman" and "Vice-Chairman" means the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, respectively of a Board;
(11)"Competent Authority" means an officer appointed to be the Competent Authority under section 65;
(12)"co-operative society" means a co-operative housing society registered or deemed to be registered under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960;
(13)"development", with its grammatical variations, means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, or over, or under, any land (including land undersea, creek, river, lake or any other water) or the making of any material change in any building or land, and includes re-development and lay-out and sub-division of any land, and also the provision of amenities and "to develop" shall be construed accordingly;
(14)"existing Board" means,-
(i) the Maharashtra Housing Board constituted under the Bombay Housing Board Act,1948,
(ii) the Vidarbha Housing Board constituted under the Madhya Pradesh Housing BoardAct, 1950,
(iii) the Bombay Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board constituted under the Bombay Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board Act, 1969;
(iv) the Maharashtra Slum Improvement Board constituted under the Maharashtra Slum Improvement Board Act, 1973;
(v) 2[******] functioning in the State or any part thereof immediately before the appointed day;
(15)"fund of the Authority" means the fund of the Authority referred to in section 34;
(16)"land" includes open sites and land which is being built upon or is already built upon, benefits to arise out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth; and also include land under sea, creek, river, lake or any other water;
(17)"Land Acquisition Officer" means an officer appointed as such under section 49 of this Act;
(18)"member"-
(i) in relation to the Authority, means a member of the Authority including the President and the Vice-President thereof,
(ii)in relation to a Board, means a member of the Board including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman thereof,
(iii) in relation to a Panchayat, means a member of a Panchayat including the Sarpanch and Upa-Sarpanch thereof;
(19)"Metropolitan Act" means the 3 [Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 1974];
(20)"Metropolitan Authority" means the 4 [Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority] established under the Metropolitan Act;
(21)"Metropolitan Region" has the meaning assigned to it...
To continue reading
Request your trial