CM Yogi Adityanath’s Nazul Property Act has been shelved for now but this bill is not dead and if Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has his way, then after some time this bill will come back once again with some amendments. It is not that the government suddenly made and presented the Nazul Property Bill, rather discussions about this bill were going on in the corridors of power for a long time, so that the distribution of this Nazul property of about 75 thousand acres of land worth 2 lakh crores could be stopped in the state.
Nazul lands never belong to any particular person. Before and after independence, leases and pattas of these lands were given to people, which were invaluable even then and are invaluable even today. Because a large part of Nazul lands is present in the middle of big cities and the game of dividing it has been going on for decades with the connivance of criminals, land mafias, politicians and officers.
In 1993, the Bohra Commission formed on Nazul property gave its report, in which concern was raised on this organized gang of politicians, criminals, land mafia and bureaucrats. In this report, it was said that the main source of income in big cities is the forcible occupation of land and buildings related to real estate, evicting the existing residents and tenants and buying and selling such properties at cheap prices, which has taken the form of a business. Not only this, in this report, concern was also raised on the nexus of politicians, mafia, officers and criminals.
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How does the business of encroachment on Nazul land work?
In fact, there are about 72 to 75000 acres of Nazul land in Uttar Pradesh whose market value is more than 2 lakh crores. Illegal occupation of Nazul land, if someone has a lease of valuable Nazul land in his name and if he is weak or an easy target then grabbing it, the game of land mafia preparing fake documents and getting freehold in their favour at a very low price has been going on for a long time. If there is no heir to the leased land of the British era, then the big land mafia and criminals of the city first illegally occupy it and then the racket of getting fake freehold starts in which there is collusion of officers, land mafias and politicians and by building big market complexes and centres of commercial activities on that leased land, business worth hundreds of thousand crores flourishes.
The Yogi government took action against many big mafias. Atiq Ahmed was known as the biggest mafia and land mafia of Prayagraj, who encroached upon many Nazul lands from Civil Lines of Prayagraj to Hazratganj of Lucknow and with the help of such business, he made property worth thousands of crores. Political influence was also gained with this money – Mukhtar Ansari also encroached upon Nazul properties in many big cities including Lucknow and built a big business of his land business.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath got large tracts of land vacated from these two dons and politicians and built houses for the poor in Prayagraj and similar preparations are underway in Lucknow.
What was in the UP Nazul Bill?
There is no provision for evicting anyone in the proposed law, there is a provision for rehabilitation of the poor section. There is no law for freeholding of Nazul land.
What is the proposed Nazul law of Yogi government?
In view of the suspension of all Nazul policies as a result of the repeal of the Government Grant Act 1895, keeping in mind the wider public interest, the state government should preserve the Nazul land. For this, the Government of Uttar Pradesh implemented the Nazul Property (Management and Use for Public Purpose) Ordinance, 2024. As per the rules, this was introduced in both the houses of the legislature to make a law. There is no mention of evicting any resident anywhere in the proposed law, rather this law also gives the government the right to make laws for the rehabilitation of the poor section and to rehabilitate them.
Important points regarding Nazul Land Bill
● After the implementation of this Act, no Nazul land in Uttar Pradesh will be made freehold in favour of any private person or private entity. Nazul land will be granted only to public entities, state or central government departments or government institutions related to health, education or social cooperation.
● The vacant Nazul land whose lease period is expiring will not be made freehold but will be used for public welfare projects like hospitals, schools, government offices etc.
● Such lease holders who have applied for freehold till July 27, 2020 and have deposited the prescribed fee, will have the option to renew the lease for the next period of 30 years after the expiry of the lease period. Provided, the original lease deed has not been violated by them.
● No one will be evicted from any land where the population resides or which is being used for wider public interest. No one will be evicted from the land which is currently being used.
● The lease of all such lessees who have not violated the lease deed during the lease period will continue as per the rules.
● Any building which has been constructed on Nazul land and if it is necessary to demolish it in the larger public interest, then the government should compensate the affected person for the infrastructure or building constructed by such lessee as per the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Ga.
● This Act empowers the government to protect the interests of the poor people occupying Nazul land, make laws in their favour and rehabilitate them.
● In all such cases where the full title deed has already been executed and it is discovered that such full title deed was executed by fraud or by suppression of material information which had an impact on the decision of the Government in granting such full title, then the Government shall have the power to cancel such full title deed and retake possession of the land and building.