The Madhya Pradesh Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons (House Building Material Acquisition) Act, 1949

(1) This Act may be cited as the Madhya Pradesh Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons (House Building Material Acquisition) Act, 1949. (2) It extends to the whole of Madhya Pradesh.

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,— (a) "Dealer" means any person carrying on the business of selling or supplying house building materials and includes a manufacturer, producer or an importer of such materials; (b) "Displaced person" means any person who, on account of the setting up of the Dominions of India and Pakistan, or on account of civil disturbances or the fear of such disturbances in any area now forming part of Pakistan, has been displaced from or has left his place of residence in such area after the 1st day of March, 1947, and has subsequently migrated to India; (c) "House-building material" means such materials as may be notified by the State Government as being essential for the construction of houses.

The State Government may, if it is of opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do for the rehabilitation of displaced persons, by notification, direct that no dealer shall sell or otherwise dispose of or deliver such house-building materials as may be specified in the notification except in accordance with the terms of a permit issued by such officer as may be authorised in this behalf by the State Government.

(1) If in the opinion of the State Government, it is necessary or expedient so to do for the purpose of the resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons, it may by order in writing requisition any house building material and may make such further orders as appear to it to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisitioning. (2) The State Government may by order in writing require any person having in his possession or under his control any house building material to make the same available for the purpose of the State Government and such person shall comply with the order.

Whenever any house building material is requisitioned under section 4, there shall be paid compensation to the person interested, the amount of which shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of section 6.

The compensation to be paid for requisitioning house building material shall be determined by the State Government or by such officer as the State Government may authorise in this behalf, having regard to the market value of the material at the time of requisitioning.

Where any material is acquired under this Act, there shall be paid compensation the amount of which shall be determined by the Deputy Commissioner in accordance with the principles specified in sub-section (2). (2) The amount of compensation shall be as follows:- (a) in the case of material acquired from a dealer, the price at which the dealer could have sold it in the open market at the time of acquisition; (b) in the case of material acquired from a person other than a dealer, the cost of the material to the owner at the time of acquisition plus a reasonable margin of profit not exceeding 10 per cent., or the price at which it could be sold in the open market, whichever is less. (3) Where the person entitled thereto accepts the compensation determined under sub-section (1), the Deputy Commissioner shall pay it to him. (4) If any person is aggrieved by the determination of compensation by the Deputy Commissioner, he may within 30 days of the order, appeal to the State Government whose decision shall be final.

The Deputy Commissioner or any officer authorised by him in this behalf may, at any time, enter upon and inspect any premises where he has reason to believe that any building material is stocked for sale or otherwise for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

Any notice or order under this Act shall be served by delivering or tendering it to the person to whom it is addressed or to his agent or by sending it by registered post to his known address or where such address cannot be found, by publishing it in the Government Gazette and such publication shall be deemed to be sufficient service.

The State Government may, by notification, direct that any power exercisable by it under this Act shall, in such circumstances and under such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the notification, be exercisable also by an officer or authority subordinate to the State Government.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of any order made under this Act.

(1) The State Government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—

(a) the form of report under sub-section (1) of section 3;

(b) the manner of holding an inquiry under sub-section (2) of section 4;

(c) the procedure to be followed by the officer in assessing the value of the materials under section 5;

(d) the manner of service of orders under section 9.

(3) All rules made under this Act shall be laid on the table of the Legislative Assembly.