The Punjab Cabinet today gave a go ahead to the amendments in the existing policy for regularization of colonies following the recommendations of committee of Ministers headed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, with a broad objective of bringing unauthorized colonies and buildings within framework for providing basic civic amenities to the residents of unauthorized colonies.A decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal here at Chief Minister’s Office this evening. Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that those colonies which came into existence before implementation of PAPR Act 1995 need not to get their plots/ buildings regularized under this policy but the policy would be applicable to those plots of such colony which were sold after August 9, 1995 i.e after coming into force of PAPR Act 1995. The due date of applying for regularization of plot/ colony has also been extended upto November 5, 2013. After this date, upto November 15 these could be regularized with a penalty of 20% extra charges on prevailing rates for plot holder and 50% for the colonizer. The rates of compounding fee on unauthorized buildings have also been reduced considerably keeping in view the welfare of general public. The committee also proposed that the policy dated August 21, 2013 might be made applicable to Municipal limits existing in Chandigarh periphery region covered under Punjab area and FEZ Derabassi for welfare of residents of these areas subject to the condition that this policy would not be applicable on PLPA in Municipal limits and FEZ, delisted PLPA areas and Government Waqf Board land.
The Cabinet also gave nod for presenting the Punjab Horse Race (Regulation and Management) Bill 2013 in the ensuing session of the state assembly for its enactment, to set up, manage and operate the Race Courses along with betting activities and intermediaries involved for licensing, regulation, control and management of Horse Races, on Race courses. The bill also provides stipulations for maintaining and keeping of horses, betting activities , exhibition of horses and other processes of Horse race and all matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.The Cabinet also approved enhancement of fees for registration as well as for getting license, under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970. The Minimum fee for registration of 20 workers would be now Rs 600 instead of existing Rs 200 whereas the maximum fees for establishments employing more than 400 workers would be Rs 15000 instead of Rs 5000. Similarly, minimum fees for seeking license would be Rs 150 instead of currently Rs 50 for 20 workers and maximum fees for more than 400 workers would be Rs 4500 instead of existing Rs 1500. Pertinently, this fee was previously revised in the year 2004.In order to enhance the financial resources for the Welfare of Labour, the Cabinet also gave nod for the conversion of bill into Act thereby amending section 9-A (I) of the Punjab Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1965 for enhancing the contribution of a Labour employee from currently Rs 2 to Rs 5 per month and that of employer from Rs 4 to Rs 20 per month per employee.
The Cabinet also approved to introduce a bill in the ensuing session of state assembly to amend section 5 (2) of the Punjab Ancient, Historical Monuments, Archaeological sites and cultural heritage maintenance Board Act-2013 thereby imposing a cultural cess of 1% on all the works being carried out by the Irrigation department.In order to safeguard the future of students who have obtained B.F.Sc Degree from the Fisheries College in Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) Ludhiana and to utilize the services of well qualified persons in the fisheries sector, the Cabinet also approved to amend the Punjab Fisheries Service (Non Ministerial Rules) 1982.To encourage the farmers of the state for Basmati cultivation under the state government's ambitious Crop perfsication program, the Cabinet also gave nod for amending section 25 of Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 to exempt the Basmati and Paddy purchased by the private millers, from the ID cess.
The Cabinet also gave a go ahead for presenting a bill in the coming session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha to convert the Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Ordinance into an act. This ordinance, which was issued on July 30, 2013, provides the levying of 2% stamp duty on Power of Attorney given to a person other than family members, authorizing him to sell any immoveable property. The Cabinet also approved the draft of Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill -2013 to be presented in the coming session of the state assembly for empowering the government to fix demarcation fees to provide prompt service relating to demarcation of land to the general public, which has been recently covered under the ambit of Right to Service Act. The Cabinet also approved the bill amending the Punjab Agricultural Credit Operations and Miscellaneous Provisions (Banks) Act, 1978 to facilitate the farmers for hassle mortgaging land for raising loans. In a major relief to general public and those farmers who mortgage their lands to banks for raising loan, the Cabinet decide that the mortgage registration would now be done by the banks itself thus eliminating one major step of first selling it, registered it with the Sub Registrar and then approaching the bank for loan. The charge created by the bank would itself be deemed registration under the Registration act. The Cabinet also decided to waive off the penalty fee of Rs 100 per registration, however Rs 1000 being charged for the Punjab Land Record Society would be charged by the bank and transferred to the society. It is noteworthy that 35% registration work done by the Sub Registrars was of mortgage registration.
The Cabinet also gave green signal for the conversion of the Punjab Police (Amendment) Ordinance- 2013 into Act for extending the tenure of Police officers from the maximum three years to five years in one posting. It may be recalled that tenure of one year, extendable to maximum period of three years was prescribed for Police officers of different ranks under this section of the Punjab Police Act, 2007. The Cabinet also gave approval for converting the bill with regard to amendment in the section-18 (2) and 19 (ii) of Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act 2002 into Act for inducting Deputy Chief Minister as Co-Chairman of the Board of PIDB. This amendment was necessitated to enable the Deputy Chief Minister, who was holding key portfolios of Housing and Urban Development, Sports, Home Affairs and Excise & Taxation, to monitor the progress of various important infra structure projects related to above mentioned departments. The Cabinet also approved pilot project for collection of water supply, sewerage and municipal solid waste user charges along with electricity bills through Punjab State Power Corporation Limited in the urban Local Bodies of Punjab. This system would be initially implemented in the three cities of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahar), Faridkot and Amritsar in state as a pilot project with an objective to improve financial health of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).The Cabinet also gave approval to formulate a transparent policy for leasing out the Shamlaat land for a period upto 33 years for Industrial, commercial, educational or professional purposes with the prior approval of the state government under rules 6 (3) and 12 A (b) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules 1964.