Haryana Assembly passes 12 Bills, Section 7-A of Urban Areas Act amended

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 26

Twelve Bills were passed during the one-day session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday.

Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2020 was passed to amend Section 7-A whereby the existing provisions of ‘two kanals’ and ‘agriculture land’ requiring NOC before registration would be replaced by ‘one acre’ and ‘vacant land’ respectively.

It is done for an effective deterrence against unauthorised colonisation, according to the government.

The requirement of NOC for transfer through gift deed has also been included. The amendments have been brought after registry scam surfaced and six revenue officers were suspended and booked.

Haryana Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2020 would amend the Act of 2005.

As per 2005 Act, the fiscal deficit has to be at three per cent of the GSDP and debt liability at 25 per cent.

Now, the state can avail two per cent additional borrowing of the GSDP amounting to Rs 17,172.64 crore over and above the prescribed limit of 3 per cent of the GSDP during the current financial year 2020-21.

Haryana Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2020 would enable imposition of Rural Development Fee on ad-valorem basis, at the rate of one per cent of the sale-proceeds of fruits and vegetables.

Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Municipal Areas (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2020 was passed to enable declaration of unauthorised colonies as deficient in civil amenities.

Haryana Lifts and Escalators (Amendment) Bill, 2020 would allow Emergency Rescue Device in lifts which will give sufficient backup, in case of power shutdown, to land at the desired floor and keep it operating for at least 15 minutes.

Haryana Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 would enable the government to conduct the first election of the newly constituted Corporation within a period of five years and six months, instead of five years earlier.

The election of the Municipal Corporation, Sonepat was required to be held till July 5 but due to Covid, the elections could not be held.

Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed to enable bringing No Confidence Motion against presidents of municipalities, who were elected prior to 2019 amendment.

The Haryana Fire Service (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed to further amend the Haryana Fire Service Act of 2009 for exempting a height of 16.5 meters for four floors for residential purposes for obtaining approval of Fire Fighting Schemes and Fire NOCs.

Haryana Municipal Entertainment Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed to include various available means of entertainment via digital networking in present times—e-Cable Operators, Direct to Home Operators, Video Parlours, Pool Parlours and IPTV services.

Haryana Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed to provide relaxations and amend certain provisions of the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The amendment in section 140 is included for prescribing the time limit and the manner for availing input tax credit against certain un-availed credit under the existing law.

The Haryana Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was passed to amend the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 for providing time to finalise the assessments for 2016-17 that had to be finalised by the due dates falling between the lockdown period.

Haryana Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2020 was passed to authorise payment and appropriation of funds from the Consolidated Fund of the Haryana.