ThePrint looks at the provisions of the bill, reasons why it has created an uproar, and its possible impact on the public.
What is nazul?
Nazul property, according to the bill, is any piece of land, building, or any land with building which is a government property according to the public records, and all those properties, land and buildings which are vested with the state government according to Article 296 of the Constitution.
Further, nazul land also includes all those plots in which a grant was issued under the Government Grant Act, 1895, or by an executive official of the British government, or any such land which is not private land and in connection with which, lease deeds, license or occupancy rights have been given as declared via notification.
What the bill says?
The bill will ensure that after the act comes into force, no private person or unit will be able to get freehold rights for any nazul property in the state.
Once this act comes into force, all pending proceedings or applications seeking freehold rights for nazul land will lapse, irrespective of any decision, decree or opposite order, or any other legality trending at the time, or any government order. The applicants will be returned any money paid by them at the interest rate of the SBI’s marginal cost of best lending rate.
Once implemented, grant of nazul land will only be done to public units after due process. The government can continue the lease deeds of those leaseholders who have been timely paying rent and have not violated any deed condition.
“After the completion of the lease duration, such land, after being free of all encumbrances, will automatically get vested with the state government,” states the bill.
Further, it states that the government can take physical possession of the nazul land wherever the lease deed holder does not surrender it. Compensation for the infrastructure or building constructed on the land will be given according to the Right to Fair. Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Another criticism is the provision that all current lease deed holders will have to present before the district magistrate (DM) details of the land and building and the usage of this land within three months.
Further, there will be periodic surveys of all lease deeds and wherever the deed holder is not using the deed according to its conditions or such land is being used in violation of the conditions, the government on recommendation of the DM, can either reduce the deed duration, or the area of the plot, or both or terminate the deed.
Significantly, one of the provisions with a retrospective effect has attracted much criticism. It states that the government can cancel freehold rights and acquire the land and building in all such cases where such rights have been issued already. This is applicable in cases where a record is issued via fraud or hiding facts.
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Why are the objections?
While the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has termed the bill as “inhumane,” Congress’ Aradhana Mishra asked whether the government will vacate the High Court, bungalows of judges, schools or government offices set up on nazul land in Prayagraj.
Kundla MLA and Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) leader Raja Bhaiya pointed out that Prayagraj was home to many nazul properties from the British-era. “In the Sagar Pesha area, families of coolies, gardeners, cooks, etc were settled by the British to take service from them.”
Sagar Pesha are slums located in the heart of Prayagraj whose erstwhile residents did menial jobs for the Britishers.
Stating that thousands of such people will go homeless, the Kundla MLA said that around 3,200 applications seeking freehold rights were pending in Prayagraj alone.
SP MLA R.K.Verma objected to the bill’s provision that an aggrieved person can only appeal before the DM in connection with the bill and not the judiciary.
His colleague Sandeep Singh claimed that the bill intends to benefit industrialists in the private sector. Singh alleged that despite a land acquisition act in place, the government is bringing this bill to avoid payment of four-time compensation to those affected in rural areas and two-time in urban areas.
“The government wants to give possession to people from other states,” he said.
“In 1992, a BJP government brought a bill to make nazul land freehold and that time too, it had tried to benefit its own people. It was the government’s policy to give freehold rights only to the lease deed holder or blood relatives. But in 1998, the party, in a bid to help a big family associated with Delhi, which constructed a building on nazul land in Prayagraj, tweaked that policy and decided to give freehold rights to tenants as well,” he said.
Singh further said that the poor staying in Sagar Pesha had approached court when they were denied freehold rights.
However, it was the attack from the two BJP MLAs from Prayagraj which attracted the most attention.
BJP MLA from Allahabad (North) Harshvardhan Bajpai said in the assembly on Wednesday that on some nazul properties, lease deed holders have been living such 100-200 years.
He said that unlike what was being projected, these properties are not big bungalows. Several are sub-divided into small plots and further, there has been illegal plotting with bungalows divided into small flats.
“Some plots are those which were acquired by the British government from the freedom fighters and are now part of nazul land. … There are dwellers staying in one-two rooms in slums. The Indians serving the Britishers stayed in the outhouses of properties owned by the latter. These families are living in Sagar Pesha since before Independence. They are not big seths. On one side, you are giving housing to people under PM Awas Yojana and on the other hand, you are asking thousands of families to evict,” he said, adding this was “unjustified”.
Sidharth Nath Singh, BJP MLA from Allahabad (West), said that several of these properties are in Prayagraj but many are located in Kanpur, Lucknow, Kunda, Shravasti and Basti. “Several of them are bonafide lease deed holders and their lease has been passed on from generations.”
Making two suggestions, he said that the lease of those bonafide dwellers whose lease was passed on from generations, be renewed.
“Moreover, the issue of freehold is everywhere. The government first started the freehold policy and later, when it was stopped, some dwellers stopped paying rents. Action should not be taken against those who paid their installments and their lease too should be legalised and extended. Most people in Prayagraj are settled in this manner,” he said.
Later, Singh told ThePrint that finance minister Suresh Khanna accepted his suggestion and assured changes to ensure the lease deeds of bonafide tenants are extended.
What litigants say
Several litigants fighting cases to seek freehold rights explained how the issue is associated with the murky land mafia.
Ashok Tahiliani, who fought a prolonged legal battle to get freehold rights to a 5,856.53 sq m of plot which was leased to his father who arrived in Prayagraj years after the Partition, alleged that the government was discriminatory in granting freehold rights ever since the policy was brought in 1992.
It was after Tahiliani filed a petition against the Nazul ordinance that the Allahabad High Court directed the state counsel to obtain instructions in response to the petition.
“The 1992 government order stated that a person could get freehold rights if one had an agreement to sell, but later the government allowed even tenants to get freehold rights via a GO of 1998. Several illegal tenants and trespassers were given freehold rights,” he said.
Stating that the process of making plots freehold was controlled by land mafia to a large extent with collusion of a section of the Prayagraj administration, he said that the original inhabitants were vulnerable and that builders or those who had connections with mafia could get the freehold rights soon after applying to the administration.
“Original inhabitants were vulnerable and many families were forced to sell properties to the builders/mafia at a very low cost. Those of us who have been living here for years, had to fight as we were treated unfairly,” he said.
“When the government started giving freehold rights, the mafia would force the lease deed holders to vacate premises and sell off the land to them or builders. Freehold rights would be granted to builders soon after they would purchase a plot, while bonafide lease deed holders couldn’t despite offering to pay the 10 percent amount specified by the government. The builders purchased the area and forced the poor to vacate Sagar Pesha areas,” he said.
“Several royals and intelligentsia of Allahabad had such leased properties. Many renowned families of erstwhile Allahabad had to leave the region and relocate because of the government’s approach,” Tahiliani added.
Javed Khan, another litigant from Prayagraj, said that such properties are present in Civil Lines, Ashok Nagar, Lukerganj and Georgetown areas.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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