Haryana Assembly passes 8 bills on last day of session

On the last day of its over fortnight-long Budget session, Haryana Assembly today passed eight Bills including one to provide civic amenities to unauthorised residential colonies in the state.
The Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Municipal Areas (Special Provisions) Bill, 2016, was passed by voice vote.
The Bill aims to make a special provision for providing essential services in civic amenities and infrastructure deficient municipal areas in the state. The Act would replace the Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Municipal Areas (Special Provisions) Act, 2013.
As per the Bill, it was observed that there are a number of unauthorised colonies or areas which have 50 per cent or more constructed plots and fulfill other laid down parameters of the Act of 2013.

The government had decided to notify colonies as civic amenities and infrastructure deficient areas fulfilling parameters as on March 31, 2015 so that deficient amenities and infrastructure can be provided.
Among other Bills, the Assembly passed the Haryana Fire Service (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to amend the Haryana Fire Service Act, 2009.

There is a provision to get the NOC by the owner on the completion of the construction of high rise building as per section 15(5) of the Haryana Fire Service Act, 2009. In the absence of such certificate, the owner shall not occupy, lease or sale the building.
The NOC is renewed every year by the concerned officer. Renewal of NOC is a time taking process and cause undue harassment to the applicant. Therefore, the amendment will help in addressing substantial number of grievances relating to the renewal of NOC. The amendment would also provide for a provision that NOC will be renewed after every five years.

For the intervening period, the owner or occupier of the building shall give a self declaration certificate annually to the affect that the fire fighting system installed in his building is working in good condition. Also, there is no addition or alteration in the building, as per the Bill.
The Assembly also passed the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Haryana Amendment Bill, 2016 to amend the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 in its application to Haryana.
The Assembly also passed the Haryana Value Added Tax
(Amendment) Bill, 2016 to amend Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 and repeal Haryana Value Added Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.

The amendment was necessitated because section 59A of the Haryana Value Added Tax, 2003, as amended by the Ordinance dated January 13,2016 enabled the government to notify an Amnesty Scheme covering payment of tax, interest, penalty or any other dues under the Act, for the period prior to April 1,2015 only.
Subsequently, the registered dealers of the state in some districts like Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat suffered losses on account of goods destroyed or lost during the reservation agitation in February 2016, the Bill said.
In order to grant some relief to the registered dealers affected by the reservation agitation, the government felt the need to introduce an Amnesty Scheme for affected registered dealers.

The stipulated cutoff date restricting the Amnesty Scheme only for the period prior to April 1, 2015 as mentioned in section 59A did not allow introduction of an Amnesty Scheme for the period after March 31,2015.
Therefore, the Council of Ministers in its meeting held on March 10, 2016, approved the removal of the cutoff date prescribed in section 59A and further decided to issue another Ordinance to carry out the amendment.
The Assembly also passed the Haryana Enterprises
Promotion Bill, 2016 to provide for simplification of regulatory framework and to assist the promoters in speedy implementation of industrial and other projects in Haryana by providing single point time bound clearances required for setting up of enterprises under one roof and reduce the procedural requirements.

It would also rationalise the documents and ensure ease of doing business for the promotion of industrial development and facilitation of new investments and to provide for an investor-friendly environment in the state.
The Vidhan Sabha also passed the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to amend Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.
The introduction of the Bill was necessitated to implement the policy decisions taken by the government recently.
The implementation of the New Integrated Licensing Policy and issuance of Transferable Development Rights Certificate would make available land to the government for development of community facilities, infrastructural facilities, EWS/affordable housing, physical, social or commercial urban infrastructure in various towns without resorting to land acquisition.

The Assembly also passed the Haryana Appropriation (Repeal) Bill, 2016 to repeal certain Haryana Appropriation Acts.
As per the Bill, the objective of the Bill is to repeal enactments which have ceased to be in force or have become obsolete or the retention whereof as separate, independent and distinct Acts is unnecessarily, then, such enactments are to be repealed.
"The principal object of such repealing Acts is to excise dead matter, prune off superfluities and remove such redundant laws from the Statute Book to bring in clarity.
The Appropriation Acts enacted during past 66 years in reality have lost their meaning but are still shown on the Statute Books. These laws have become either irrelevant or dysfunctional and importantly have served their purpose and outlived their utility," the Bill said.

Speaker Kanwar Pal adjourned the House after it conducted business listed in today's schedule that included passage of the Bills.