BHOPAL: The government is set to bring an Act to legalise unauthorised colonies in the current session of the House. Urban development and housing minister Bhupendra Singh made the announcement during Question Hour on Friday. He said the compounding fee to legalise colonies would be increased from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
The government has been planning to legalise these colonies for a long time. The high court objected to the plan in June 2019. According to the court, since there is no rule to legalise unauthorised colonies, the government should keep away from doing that.
Section 15 was added to the MP Nagar Palika Colony Registration Nirbandhan Evam Sart Niyam, 1988, (Nagar Palika Registration Restriction and Conditions Rule, 1988) to legalise unauthorised colonies. But, after the high court’s objection, the government has done away with that section. So, the government has to pass an amendment law to restart the process to legalise unauthorised colonies.
There are 6,800 illegal colonies in the state. During the civic polls in 2014, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced that the unauthorised colonies would be legalised. But it could not be done because of the legal process involved.