Lal Dora area residents to get land rights in Himachal Pradesh

Dharamsala, December 15

The Himachal Pradesh Abadi Deh (record of rights) Bill 2021 was passed in the Assembly today with a voice vote. The Bill aims at giving ownership rights of land to people living in Abadi Deh or Lal Dora areas of villages as per the scheme notified by the Union Government.

The objective of the Bill was to implement the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s scheme ‘SVAMITVA’ and record and resolve the existing rights of proprietors within the Abadi Deh areas of villages.

The Abadi Deh areas in Himachal Pradesh are not assessed to land revenue. This area has remained without recording of rights of the proprietors, preparation of records or the marking of boundaries through a survey. This has over the years resulted in disputes about the demarcation of boundaries and identification of rights in the dwelling and other areas.

The aim of the Bill was to make a law to identify record and resolve the existing rights of proprietors within the Abadi Deh by a process of ascertaining the persons best entitled to be recorded as proprietor besides demarcating/delineating the boundaries and areas of each survey limit. It also aims to create presumption of truth in the records so prepared.

The Assembly also passed the Himachal Pradesh Technical University (Amendment) Bill 2021. It proposes an amendment to Section 12 of the HP Technical University Act that if the post of VC of the university suddenly falls vacant, the Administrative Secretary of the Technical Education Department should act as Vice-Chancellor temporarily till a regular appointment is made.

The amendment also proposes that if the Vice-Chancellor is unable to perform his duties, the senior-most faculty member or an officer appointed by the government may be nominated as Vice-Chancellor.—TNS