The PUNJAB SLUM DWELLERS (PROPRIETARY RIGHTS) ACT, 2020

PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
PART I
GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB
DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL  AND LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS, PUNJAB
NOTIFICA TION
The 1st April, 2020
No. 7-Leg./2020.– The following Act of the Legislature of the S tate
of Punjab received the assent of the Governor of Punjab on the 20th day of
March, 2020, is hereby published for general information :–
THE PUNJAB SLUM DWELLERS (PROPRIET ARY RIGHTS)
ACT, 2020
(Punjab Act No. 7 of 2020)
AN
ACT
to provide for sustainable growth of basic civic services in slum areas
in urban towns and cities of the State of Punjab by conferring proprietary
rights of land to the slum dwellers and ensuring their development  through
optimal utilization of resources.
BE it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Punjab in the Seventy-
first Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. (1)  This Act may be called the Punjab Slum Dwellers   (Proprietary
Rights) Act, 2020.
(2) This Act shall be applicable to the whole of the State of Punjab.
(3)  This Act shall come into force on and with ef fect from the
date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "Authorized Officer" means the head of the Slum
Redevelopment and Rehabilitation Committee or any officer
authorized by the Government, by order , to exercise such
powers as may be prescribed;
(b) "basic civic services" means the services of drinking water
supply, sanitation, drainage, sewerage, solid waste disposal,
street lighting and urban environment improvement;
Short title, extent
and
Commencement.
Definitions.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(c) "Collector" means the Deputy Commissioner of a district and
includes the Additional Deputy Commissioner or the
Commissioner of Municipal Corporation or any officer
specially appointed by the Government to perform the
functions of a Collector under this Act;
(d) "Committee" means the Slum Area Redevelopment and
Rehabilitation Committee constituted under section 6 of this Act;
(e) "Economically Weaker Section (EWS)" means the section of
beneficiaries whose household income is up to such limit as
may be notified by the Government from time to time and is
landless;
(f) "family" means husband, wife, unmarried son, unmarried
daughter or any other person related by blood and wholly
dependent on the slum dweller;
(g) "financial institution" means any institution or Company
possessing license under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to
carry out banking business and includes a Housing Finance
Institution which has obtained a certificate of registration under
the National Housing Bank Act, 1987;
(h) "Government" means the Government of  the State of Punjab
in the Department of Local Government;
(i) "Government land" means any land owned or acquired by the
Government of Punjab or its undertakings and includes the
land owned by the Urban Local Bodies;
(j) "landless person" means a person residing in the State of
Punjab, who is a citizen of India and does not own either in his
own name or in the name of any member of his family any
house or land, or land rights granted or inherited under this
Act in the urban area;
(k) "member" means a member of the Committee or sub-committee,
as the  case may be, and includes the Chairperson;
(l) "occupation" means an occupation of a land by a slum  dweller
for residential purposes;
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(m)  "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(n) "proprietary rights" means the rights to land assigned to slum
dwellers under section 3 of this Act;
(o) "public interest" means land usage as prescribed under the
master plan or zonal development plans under the approved
city development plan, if any, or the provision of basic urban
services to public at large or prohibition of human habitation in
environmentally hazardous or ecologically fragile sites or
heritage sites;
(p) "redevelopment" means improvement to the existing slum by
providing basic civic services and facilitating improvement of
housing conditions in accordance with the housing scheme
framed by the Government from time to time;
(q) "rehabilitation" means relocation of slum dwellers to other
location in accordance with the housing scheme or policy
framed by the Government from time to time;
(r) "slum" or "slum area" means a compact settlement of at least
twenty-five households with a collection of poorly built
tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together
usually with inadequate sanitation and drinking water facilities
in unhygienic conditions, which may be on the Government
land in an urban area;
(s) "slum dweller" means any landless person in occupation within
the limits of a slum area;
(t) "tenable habitations" means the habitations as decided by the
Committee, where existence of human population does not
entail undue risk to the safety or health or life of the residents
or habitation or such sites are not considered contrary to public
interest or the land is not required for any public or development
purpose;
(u) "untenable habitations" means such areas where existence of
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
human population entails undue risk to the safety or health or
life of the inhabitants themselves or where habitation on such
areas is considered by the Committee not to be in the public
interest;
(v) "urban area" means the area comprised within the limits of
Urban Local Bodies; and
(w) "Urban Local Bodies" means the municipal bodies established
under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 and the Punjab Municipal
Corporation Act, 1976.
           (2) Words  and expressions used herein but not defined, shall
have  the same meaning as assigned to them under the Punjab
Municipal Act, 1911 and the Punjab Municipal Corporation
Act, 1976.
CHAPTER II
PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
3. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law of the
State of Punjab for the time being in force, and subject to the provisions of
sub-section (2), every slum dweller, occupying land in a slum in any urban area
by such date as may be notified by the Government, shall be entitled for
settlement of land occupied by him or on such other land as may be notified by
the Government and a certificate of proprietary rights of land shall be issued in
accordance with the provisions of this Act:
Provided that the Municipalities desirous of transferring
Municipal Properties in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall pass a
resolution with simple majority to this effect:
Provided further that if the land occupied by a slum dweller
belongs to any statutory Board or Corporation or any Department of the Punjab
Government, consent of such Board or Corporation or the Department shall
be obtained before the settlement of land under this Act.
(2) The proprietary rights on such land shall be settled in favour
of a slum dweller to the extent specified hereinafter, namely:-
Proprietary
Rights.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(a)  a slum dweller shall be entitled to a land as nearly as may be,-
(i) where the slum is situated within the Municipal
Corporation area, not exceeding thirty square meter;
(ii)  where  the slum is situated within the Municipal
Council area, not exceeding forty-five square meter;
and
(iii) where the slum is situated within the Notified Area
Committee area, not exceeding sixty-square meter:
Provided that where a slum dweller is not
getting in-situ settlement, in such a situation the
maximum limit of land in a relocation site shall not
exceed thirty square meter:
Provided further that where the slum dweller
is in occupation of land in any of the areas mentioned in sub-
clauses (i) to (iii), less than the maximum area mentioned
therein, the land in actual occupation of such slum dwellers
shall be settled accordingly;
(b) where the slum dweller belongs to EWS category , the
proprietary rights of land shall be settled free of cost;
(c) where the slum dweller belongs to a category other than EWS,
the land shall be settled at such rates, as may be determined
by the Government from time to time; and
(d) where a slum dweller occupies land beyond the maximum
permissible limit provided under clause (a), irrespective of the
category he may belong to, such excess land shall be settled
in favor of the occupant at such rates as may be determined
by the Government from time to time and in case it is not done
so for reasons to be recorded in writing by the Authorized
Officer, the slum dweller shall voluntarily vacate such excess
land and the Authorized Officer shall take over the possession
of such excess land before the issue of the certificate of
proprietary rights of land.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
 (3)     The proprietary rights of land so settled under sub-section (1),
shall be inheritable but not transferable by sub-lease, sale, gift, or any other
manner whatsoever for thirty years from the date of issue of certificate of
proprietary rights of land:
         Provided that the land so settled may be mortgaged for the
purpose of raising finance in the form of housing loan from any financial
institution.
 (4)     The certificate of the proprietary rights of land shall be issued
jointly  in the name of both the spouses in case of married persons and in the
name of single head in the case of a household headed by a single person.
(5) If the slum dweller, with whom the proprietary rights of land
has been settled or right has accrued for allotment of any land under this Act,
transfers of such land, except by way of mortgage under sub-section (3), or
the said land is not used for residential purposes, the following consequences
shall follow, namely:-
(a) the certificate of proprietary rights of land issued under sub-section
(1), shall automatically stand cancelled;
(b) such transfer shall be null and void;
(c)  no rights shall accrue to the transferee in respect of such
land;
(d)  the Authorized Officer shall dispossess the person who is in
actual possession of such land;
(e) such slum dweller shall be debarred from getting any land in
future under this Act; and
(f)  such slum dweller shall be guilty of an offence under this
Act.
(6) The slum dweller, with whom the proprietary rights of land
has been settled under this Act, shall not hold any certificate of proprietary
rights of land in any other urban area of the State of Punjab and if he holds any
such certificate, he shall surrender all such certificate(s) to the Authorized
Officer in such manner, as may be prescribed.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(7) If any slum dweller is found to have obtained more than one
certificate of the proprietary rights of land by way of misrepresentation of
facts, the Authorized Officer shall, after giving reasonable opportunity of being
heard to such slum dweller,  cancel  all  the certificates of the proprietary rights
of land and without prejudice to the penalty that may be imposed under this
Act, dispossess him from such land.
(8) The evidence for the grant of certificate of proprietary rights
of land under sub section (1) in favour of a slum dweller shall include,-
(a) Government authorized documents such as aadhaar card, voter
identity card, ration card under National Food Security Act,
2013, smart card under Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana (SSBY) or
passport; or
(b) Government records such as Census, survey, maps, satellite
imagery, plans, reports, reports of committees and commissions,
Government orders, notifications, circulars or resolutions.
(9) The certificate of proprietary rights of land granted under
sub-section (1) shall be acceptable as evidence for address proof of residence.
4. (1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the proprietary
rights of land conferred under sub-section (1) of section 3 shall, as far as
practicable, be provided in-situ and on as-is where-is basis:
Provided that where the Government decides that the site has untenable
habitations, in such circumstances the slum dwellers shall be rehabilitated
elsewhere:
Provided further that:
(a) where, it is decided that the slum dwellers shall be rehabilitated
elsewhere, the said site shall be utilized for any  other  purpose,
as  the  Government  may decide; and
(b) where, after providing land in the existing slum to the slum
dweller, any land remains surplus, the Government may utilize
such land for any purpose, as it may decide.
Redevelopment of
slums.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(2) In the event of in-situ redevelopment, the applicable planning
and building regulations shall be applied and wherever any relaxation is felt
necessary for implementation of a redevelopment plan, the same may be deemed
to have been granted under permissible deviation under the said regulations.
(3) During the period of redevelopment of the slum area, transit
space shall be provided to the slum dwellers for such duration as may be
necessary as provided under the housing scheme issued by the Government,
from time to time.
5. All proceedings relating to eviction of slum dwellers pending on the
ground of unauthorized occupation before any authority or Court under any
law of the State of Punjab shall abate on the issue of certificate of proprietary
rights of land under this Act.
CHAPTER III
PROCEDURE FOR SETTLEMENT  OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
6. (1) For the purposes of this Act, the Government shall constitute
a Committee to be known as the Slum Area Redevelopment and Rehabilitation
Committee for each urban area with the name of such urban area, as it deems
necessary and such Committee shall have the authority to approve the list of
persons on whom the proprietary rights of land under this Act, shall be settled
and shall exercise jurisdiction over the areas and exercise such powers and
functions as may be prescribed.
(2) Every Committee shall be headed by the Collector and shall
comprise of such other members as may be notified by the Government from
time to time.
(3) Without prejudice to the generality of powers and functions
under sub-section (1), the Committee shall,-
(a) undertake necessary surveys, spatial mapping, fix the physical
boundary of the slums, identify eligible slum dwellers with
community participation, prepare and publish the list of slum
dwellers to whom the certificate of proprietary rights of land
has been issued, in such manner as may be prescribed; and
Abatement of
proceedings.
Slum Area
Redevelopment
and
Rehabilitation
Committee.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(b) for the purposes of facilitating the implementation of the
provisions of this Act and rules made there under, constitute
such sub-committee for each slum area, cluster of slums,
comprising of such number of members, as may be specified
by the Committee.
(4) For the purpose of efficient functioning of the Committee, the
Government shall provide such officers and employees, as may be notified,
from time to time.
7.         The procedure for the conduct of business of the Committee shall be
such, as may be prescribed.
8. (1)   Subject to such rules as may be made, appeal from any decision
or order made under this Act, shall lie to such an officer, as may be appointed
by the Government.
(2) Every appeal preferred under this section, shall be heard and
disposed of in such manner, as may be prescribed.
(3) Every order passed by the Appellate Authority under this
section shall be final.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the
Government shall be competent to review any order passed by the Committee
or Appellate Authority.
CHAPTER IV
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
9. Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-sections (5) and (6) of
section 3 or fails to comply with any notice or order issued under this Act or
rules made there under, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, which may extend to
fifty thousand rupees, or with both.
Conduct of
business of
Committee.
Appeal.
Panalty for
contravention of
the Act.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
10. (1) There shall be constituted a fund called the Municipal Area
Development Fund at the level of each urban local body to which the moneys
received from the slum dwellers under this Act shall be credited and in addition
to the same, the following receipts may also be credited to the said fund,
namely:-
            (a)  contributions from the State and Central Governments, if any;
             (b) contributions from organizations, philanthropists, individuals  and
Non-Government Organizations; and
(c) the Government may notify any other sources of funding
including the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding.
(2) The constitution and administration of the fund shall be in such
manner, as may be prescribed.
11. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the
Government or any officer or other employee of the Government or the
Committee or any sub-committee constituted under this Act, which is, in good
faith, done or intended to be done under this Act.
12. The Government or any officer authorized by it in this behalf shall be
the Nodal Agency for the implementation of the provisions of this Act.
13. No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding
in respect of any matter which the Government or the Committee constituted
under this Act is empowered by or under this Act to determine and no injunction
shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken
or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.
14.      An offence punishable under this Act shall be tried in the court of
Judicial Magistrate in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973:
Provided that no court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable
under this Act, except upon a complaint in writing made by  any officer of the
Government authorized by the Government.
15. (1) The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
Municipal Area
Development
Fund.
Protection of
action taken in
good faith.
Nodal Agency
Bar of
Jurisdiction of
Civil Court.
Cognizance of
offence.
Power to make
rules.
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PUNJAB GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA), APRIL 1, 2020
(CHTR 12, 1942 SAKA)
(2) Every rule made under this section, shall be laid, as soon as
may   be, after it is made, before the House of the State Legislature while it is
in session for a total period of ten days, which may be comprised in one session
or in two or more successive sessions and if, before the expiry of the session
in which it is so laid or the successive sessions as aforesaid, the House agrees
in making any modification in the rule or the House agrees that the rule should
not be made, the rule shall thereafter, have effect only in such modified form
or be of no ef fect, as the case may be. However , any such modification or
annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done
or omitted to be done under that rule.
16. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law enacted by the
Legislature of the S tate of Punjab, the provisions of this Act shall have
precedence and overriding effect in the matters covered under it.
17. The Government may by an order clarify doubts, if any arise, on any
of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under , with a view to
ensure fair and proper implementation of the Act.  The Government shall also
be competent to issue guidelines for implementation of this Act.
S.K. AGGARWAL,
Secretary to Government of Punjab,
Department of Legal and Legislative Affairs.
Overriding effect
on other laws.
Power to remove
difficulties.
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2001/4-2020/Pb. Govt. Press, S.A.S. Nagar

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