Cabinet approves amendment of Public Premises Act

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for the amendment in Section 2 and Section 3 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act (PPE Act, 1971) by inserting definition of 'residential accommodation occupation' in a new clause in section 2 of the Act and inserting provisions relating to eviction from 'residential accommodation occupation' in a new sub-section 3B below sub-section 3A of Section 3 of the Act.

The Amendment will enable the Estate officer to apply summary proceedings for evicting unauthorised occupants from residential accommodations allotted for a fixed tenure or for a period he/she holds office on the basis of an order of allotment on licence basis, as non-vacation of such residences leads to unavailability of houses to new incumbents.

Therefore, now, the Estate Officer can make such inquiry as he deems expedient in the circumstances of the case and thus do not have to follow the elaborate procedures prescribed as per Sections 4, 5 and 7 of the Act.

Estate Officers can even make an order for the eviction of such persons forthwith following the procedure proposed in the new section.

If such persons refuse or fail to comply with the said order of eviction, Estate Officer may evict them from premises and take possession thereof and may, for that purpose, use such force as may be necessary.

The amendment will therefore facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorised occupants from government residences.

As a consequence to these amendments, Government of India can now ensure that the unauthorised occupants are evicted from government residence in a speedy and smooth manner and the vacated accommodations are made available to eligible government employees thus reducing the waiting period.

The amendments will facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorised occupants from government residence, as non-vacation in time leads to unavailability of houses to new incumbents and will increase the availability of the residential accommodation benefitting the waitlisted persons.

The beneficiaries include the employees of the Central Government offices who are eligible for General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) and waiting for the maturity of their turn.

The Government of India has to evict unauthorized occupants from the government accommodations under the provisions of PPE Act, 1971.

However, the eviction proceedings take unusually long time, thereby reducing the availability of the government accommodations to new incumbents.