Chapter I PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970. (2) It extends to the whole of the State. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Government Gazette appoint and different dates may be appointed for different parts of the State.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,– (a) “amenity” includes road, street lighting, drainage, sewerage, public works and such other convenience as the Government may, by notification in the Government Gazette, specify to be an amenity for the purposes of this Act ; (b) “building” includes any structure or erection or part of a structure or erection which is intended to be used for residential, industrial, commercial or other purposes, whether in actual use or not ; (c) “building operations” includes re-building operation, structural alterations of or additions to buildings and other operations normally undertaken in connection with the construction of buildings ; (d) “development” with its grammatical variations means the carrying out of building, engineering quarrying or extraction or manufacture of building materials or other operations in, on, over or under land, or “erecting or re-erecting” of any building or land and includes re-development ; (da) “economically weaker section” means such class of persons, being permanent residents of the State, as may be notified by the Government from time to time, for the purpose of providing housing sites of the dimension 4 metre x 7.5 metre and carpet area within the range of 25 square metre to 30 square metre ; (db) “floor space index” means the area that can be constructed on a piece of land divided by the total area of the land ; (dc) “group housing” means more than two buildings on a plot with one or more floors and with one or more dwelling units in each floor ; (e) “Local Area” means any area declared to be a local area under sub-section (1) of section 3 ; (ea) “low income group” means such class of persons, being permanent residents of the State, as may be notified by the Government from time to time, for the purpose of providing housing sites which may be of dimension 4.5 metre x 10 metre and floor area of about 50 square metre in case of flatted accommodation ; (f) “engineering operations” includes the formation of laying out of means of access to a road or the laying out of means of water supply or any other amenity ; (g) “means of access” includes any means of access whether private or public, for vehicles or for foot passenger, and includes a road ; (h) “regulation” means a regulation made under this Act by the Development Authority constituted under section 3 ; (i) “rule” means a rule made under this Act ; (ia) “shelter fee” means fee levied and collected in lieu of the reservation of land or floor area, as the case may be, being an amount equal to the market value of the land or floor area determined on the basis of the rates notified by the Government, which is required to be reserved for the economically weaker section and the lower income groups.”. (j) “to erect or re-erect” in relation to any building includes– (i) any material alteration or enlargement of any building ; (ii) the conversion by structural alteration into a place for human habitation of any building not originally constructed for human habitation ; (iii) the conversion into more than one place for human habitation of any building originally constructed as one such place ; (iv) the conversion of two or more places of human habitation into a greater number of such places ; (v) Such alteration of a building as affect an alteration of its drainage or sanitary arrangements or materially affect its security ; (vi) the addition of any rooms, buildings, houses or other structures to any building ; (vii) the construction in a wall adjoining any street or land not belonging to the owner of the wall, of a door opening on to such street or land ; and (viii) reconstruction of a building or a portion thereof ; (k) “Zone” means any one of the divisions in which a local area may be divided for the purposes of development under this Act ; (l) the expression “land” and the expression “person interested” shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in section 3 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1990.

(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, the Government may, by notification in the Government Gazette, declare any area to be local area for purposes of this Act and constitute therefor an authority to be called the Development Authority hereinafter referred to as the Authority. (2) The Authority shall be a body corporate by the name of the Local Area having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract and shall in the said name sue and be sued.

(1) The Authority shall consist of 12 members including a Chairman and Vice-Chairman all of whom shall be appointed by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may specify. (2) The members of the Authority appointed under sub-section (1) shall hold office for such time as the Government may by notification determine.

The authority may appoint such officers and employees (including experts for technical work) as are necessary and may assign to them such duties and pay such salary and allowance as it may determine from time to time ; provided that the appointment of officers on post carrying a maximum pay scale which exceeds Rs. 950 per month shall be made after prior approval of the Government.

The objects of the Authority shall be to promote and secure the development of the local area for which it is constituted, according to plan and for that purpose the Authority shall have the power to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of land and other property, to carry out building, engineering and other operations, to execute works in connection with supply of water and electricity, disposal of sewerage and other services and amenities and generally to do anything necessary or expedient for purposes of such development and for purposes incidental thereto : Provided that save as otherwise provided in this Act, nothing contained in this Act shall be constructed as authorising the disregard by the Authority of any law for the time being in force.

(2) The master plan shall–– (a) define the various zones into which the Local Area may be divided for the purposes of development and indicate the manner in which the land in each zone is proposed to be used (whether by the carrying out thereon of development or otherwise) and the stages by which any such development shall be carried out ; and (b) serve as a basic pattern of frame-work within which the zonal development plans of the various zones of the Local Area may be prepared. (3) The master plan may provide for any other matter which is necessary for the development of the Local Area.

(1) Simultaneously with the preparation of the master plan or as soon as may be thereafter, the Authority shall proceed with the preparation of a zonal development plan (hereinafter referred to as the zonal plan) for each of the zones into which a Local Area may be divided and shall propose a date or dates from which development plan of each zone shall operate. (2) A zonal development plan may–– (a) contain a site-plan and use-plan for the development of the zone and show the approximate locations and extents of land uses proposed in the zone for such things as public buildings and other public works and utilities, roads, housing recreation, industry, business, markets, schools, hospitals and public and private open spaces and other categories of public and private uses ; (b) specify the standards of population density and building density ; (c) show every area in the zone which may, in the opinion of the Authority, be required or declared for development or re-development ; and (d) in particular, contain provisions regarding all or any of the following matters, namely :–– (i) the division of any site into plots for the erection of buildings ; (ii) the allotment or reservation of land for roads, open spaces, gardens, recreation grounds, schools, markets and other public purposes ; (iii) the development of any area into a township or colony and the restrictions and conditions subject to which such development may be undertaken or carried out ; (iv) the erection of buildings on any site and the restrictions and conditions in regard to the open spaces to be maintained in or around buildings and height and character of buildings ; (v) the alignment of buildings of any site ; (vi) the architectural features of the elevation or frontage of any building to be erected on any site ; (vii) the number of residential buildings which may be erected on any plot or site ; (viii) the amenities to be provided in relation to any site or buildings on such site whether before or after the erection of buildings and the person or authority by whom or at whose expense amenities are to be provided ; (ix) the prohibitions or restrictions regarding erection of shops, workshops, warehouses or factories or building of a specified architectural feature or building designed for particular purposes in the locality ; (x) the maintenance of walls, fences, hedges or any other structural or architectural construction and the height at which they shall be maintained ; (xi) the restriction regarding the use of any site for purposes other than erection of buildings ; and (xii) any other matter which is necessary for the proper development of the zone or any area thereof according to plan and for preventing building being erected haphazardly in such zone or area.

Every master plan and zonal plan shall, as soon as may be after its preparation, be submitted by the Authority to the Government alongwith a proposal relating the date of operation of the zonal plan and the Government may either approve the plan and the proposal without modification or with such modifications as it may consider necessary or reject the plan with directions to the Authority to prepare a fresh plan according to such directions.

(1) Before preparing any plan finally and submitting it to the Government for approval, the Authority shall prepare a plan in draft and publish it by making a copy thereof available for inspection and publishing a notice in such form and manner as may be prescribed by rules made in this behalf inviting objections and suggestions from any person with respect to the draft plan before such date as may be specified in the notice. (2) The Authority shall also give reasonable opportunity to every local authority within whose local limits any land touched by the plan is situated to make any representation with respect to the plan. (3) After considering all objections, suggestions and representations that may have been received by the Authority, the Authority shall finally prepare the plan and submit it to the Government for its approval. (4) Provisions may be made by rules in this behalf with respect to the form and content of a plan and with respect to the procedure to be followed and any other matter, in connection with the preparation, submission and approval of such plan. (5) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, the Government may direct the Authority to furnish such information as the Government may require for the purposes of approving any plan submitted to it under this section.

Immediately after the Master Plan and Zonal Development Plans and their dates of operation have been approved by the Government, it shall declare the area for the Master Plan or for a Zone, as the case may be, for the purposes of the Act and shall also publish in the Government Gazette a notice indicating the approval of the plan and the date of its operation and name of the place where a copy of the plan may be inspected at all reasonable hours.

(1) The Authority may make any modifications to the master plan or the zonal plan as it thinks fit being modifications which, in its opinion, do not effect important alterations in the character of the plan and which do not relate to the extent of land uses or the standards of population density. (2) The Government may make any modifications to the master plan or the zonal plan whether such modifications are of the nature specified in sub-section (1) or otherwise. (3) Before making any modification to the Plan, the Authority or, as the case may be, the Government shall publish a notice in such form and manner as may be prescribed by rules made in this behalf inviting objection and suggestions from any person with respect to the proposed modifications before such date as may be specified in the notice and shall consider all objections and suggestions that may be received by the Authority or the Government. (4) Every modification made under the provision of this section shall be published in such manner as the Authority or the Government, as the case may be, may specify and the modification shall come into operation either on the date of the publication or on such other date as the Authority or the Government may fix. (5) When the Authority makes any modifications to the Plan under sub-section (1), it shall report to the Government the full particulars of such modifications within thirty days of the date on which such modifications come into operation. (6) If any question arises whether the modifications proposed to be made by the Authority are modifications which effect important alterations in the character of the Plan or whether they relate to the extent of land-uses or the standards of population density, it shall be referred to the Government whose decision thereon shall be final. (7) Any reference in any other Chapter, except Chapter III, to the master plan or the zonal development plan shall be construed as a reference to the master plan or the zonal plan as modified under the provisions of this section.