The Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017 (Legislation), notified on 16 October 2017, is truly a historic piece of legislation, for it seeks to grant land rights to landless slum dwellers living in urban areas of Odisha, at affordable cost. In case of economically weaker section, land rights over land measuring up to thirty square metres, will be granted free of cost. The Legislation replaces an earlier ordinance — the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Ordinance, 2017, promulgated on 10 August 2017, which conferred the same rights and entitlements as the Legislation to slum dwellers. In this article, I shall briefly discuss and analyse the Legislation.
The Legislation defines ‘slum dweller’ as any landless person in occupation of a slum area. To ensure that the benefits sought to be conferred by the Legislation are not misused by seeking land rights in the name of every member of a family even where all the members of the family live together in one household, the Legislation defines a ‘landless person’ to mean “a person who is a citizen of India and does not own either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family any house or land, or land rights granted or inherited under this Act, in the urban area.” This ensures that slum dwellers do not seek land rights only to lease the allotted land further and reap illicit financial gains.
The Legislation requires certificates of land rights to be issued (i) in the name of both the spouses, in case of married persons, and (ii) in the name of the head of a household, in case the household is headed by a single person. Interestingly, in Odisha, since the late 1980s, there has been a practice of issuing ‘patta’ or ‘record of rights’ of land in the name of both husband and wife (See here). This practice has now been given a formal legal backing by the Legislation.
Certificate of land rights will be issued by Authorised Officers appointed in terms of the Legislation and applicable rules and regulations. Upon receiving a ‘certificate of land right’, a slum dweller will get a non-transferable, heritable and even, mortgage-able right to the allotted piece of land. An allotted piece of land can only be mortgaged to obtain a housing loan from a finance institution. A certificate of land right will also be considered as a valid proof of residence.
The Legislation requires slum dwellers to use allotted land for residential purpose only. Further, a slum dweller cannot hold more than one certificate of land right issued in terms of the Legislation. Failure to abide by these requirements can result in cancellation of the issued certificate of land right, and can also result in imprisonment or imposition of fine or both.
Cost of land to be settled in terms of the Legislation will be determined as per ‘benchmark value’ fixed by the Government of Odisha. However, neither the Legislation not the applicable rules provide for any procedure to be followed while determining ‘benchmark value’. Unless the Government of Odisha decides to provide for a separate procedure and issues a notification to that effect, the guidelines set out in the Orissa Stamp (Amendment) Rules, 2001 for valuing immovable properties located in local areas of Odisha, would have to be followed while determining ‘benchmark value’. The existing valuation guidelines provide for constitution of committees which are responsible for fixing property values. However, the manner of functioning of these committees have led to quite a few protests and agitations (see here and here). In fact, in 2012, the Odisha High Court quashed a decision of a district-level valuation committee on the ground of failure to adhere to applicable procedure and directed the committee to re-determine benchmark valuation. If the valuation process leads to protests and/or initiation of legal proceedings, not only will the implementation of the Legislation get prolonged, but its effectiveness may also get impeded.
Further, ‘family’ has been defined to mean “husband, wife, unmarried son, unmarried daughter or any other person related by blood and wholly dependent on the slum dweller.” However, neither the Legislation nor the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Rules, 2017, define the phrase ‘wholly dependent’ — whether ‘wholly dependent’ would mean financial dependence or physical dependence or both, is not clear. Given the fact that many slum dwellers work in the unorganised sector, are engaged in temporary jobs, and even receive wages in cash, proving lack of financial dependence may not be an easy factual exercise.
In India, laws and policies fail mainly on account of poor implementation (see here, here and here). The Government of Odisha has partnered with Tata Trusts for implementation of the Legislation, by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding. Tata Trusts has extensive experience in community development programs, and has been working towards creating ‘urban habitats’ for slum dwellers, in collaboration with civic bodies, for many years now. Let us hope that the implementation of the Legislation, which is anticipated to have a far-reaching impact, is in tune with the objective that is sought to be attained.
