BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to confer land rights on the slum households of municipal corporations in line of the land rights conferred upon the households in the municipalities and NACs.
Piloting the Bill, Law Minister Pratap Jena said further amendment of the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003 became necessary with the objective of making the provisions more extensive and relevant. This amendment will now enable municipal corporations to grant property rights.
Wherever it is not possible to grant such property rights, the corporations will have the flexibility of granting the land rights to the slum households in-situ overland up to an extent of 45 sq mt.
“If the slum household belongs to the economically weaker section (EWS) category, land rights are proposed to be granted free of cost over an area of 30 sq mt. If the slum household is in occupation of a patch of land which is less than 30 sq mt and vacant government land is available adjacent to the dwelling unit, it is proposed that land right shall be granted over land as nearly as 30 sq mt by amalgamating the land available for the purpose,” he said.
In another development, the Assembly also passed the Odisha Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 for reservation of seats for backward class citizens (BCC) in the light of the December 17, 2021 Supreme Court order.