Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Tripura Town and Country Planning Act, 1975.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of Tripura.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different areas.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

1. (1) "agriculture" includes horticulture, farming, growing of crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, grass, fodder, trees or any kind of cultivation of soil, breeding and keeping of livestock, including cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, fish, poultry and bees, the use of land which is ancillary to the farming of land or any other agricultural purposes, but shall not include the use of any land attached to a building for the purposes of a garden to be used along with such building; and "agricultural" shall be construed accordingly;
2. (2) "amenities" includes roads and streets, open spaces, parks, recreational grounds, play-grounds, water and electric supply, street lighting, sewerage, drainage, public works and other utilities services and conveniences;
3. (3) "area of bad lay-out or obsolete development" means an area consisting of land which is badly laid out or of obsolete development, together with other land contiguous or adjacent thereto, which is defined by a development plan as an area of bad layout or obsolete development;
4. (4) "Board" means the Tripura Town and Country Planning Board constituted under this Act;
5. (5) "building operations" includes-
   • (a) erection or re-erection of a building, or any part of it;
   • (b) roofing, re-roofing of any part of a building or open space;
   • (c) any material alteration or an enlargement of any building;
   • (d) any such alteration of a building as is likely to affect an alteration of its drainage or sanitary arrangement, or materially affect its security;
   • (e) the construction of a door opening on any street or land not belonging to the owner;
6. (6) "commerce" means carrying on any trade, business or profession, sale or exchange of goods of any type whatsoever, and includes the running of, with a view to making profit, hospitals, nursing homes, infirmaries, educational institutions, and also includes hotels, restaurants, boarding houses not attached to any educational institution, sarais; and "commercial" shall be construed accordingly;
7. (7) "commercial use" includes the use of any land or building or part thereof for purposes of commerce as defined or for storage of goods, or as an office, whether attached to industry or otherwise;
8. (8) "court" means a principal civil court of original jurisdiction, and includes any other civil court empowered by the State Government to perform the functions of the court under this Act within the pecuniary and local limits of its jurisdiction;
9. (9) "development", with its grammatical variation means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land or the making of any material change, in any building or land, or in the use of any building or land and includes sub-division of any land;
10. (10) "development plan" means outline development plan or comprehensive development plan prepared under this Act;
11. (11) "engineering operations" include the formation of laying out of means of access to a road or the laying out of means of water supply;
12. (12) "industry" includes the carrying of any manufacturing process as defined in the Factories Act, 1948; and "industrial" shall be construed accordingly;
13. (13) "industrial use" includes the use of any land or building or part thereof for purposes of industry as defined;
14. (14) "land" includes benefits to arise out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;
15. (15) "local authority" means a municipal Corporation or Committee, or board or district board or other authority legally entitled to, or entrusted by the Government with the control or management of a municipal or local fund or which is permitted by the Government to exercise the powers of a local authority, and includes a town improvement trust; and a local authority is a "local authority concerned" if any land within its local limits falls in the area of a plan prepared or to be prepared under this Act;
16. (16) "local newspaper" means any newspaper published or circulated within the local planning area;
    • (a) a tenant;
    • (b) an owner in occupation of, or otherwise using his land;
    • (c) a rent free tenant of any land;
    • (d) a licensee in occupation of any land; and
    • (e) any person who is liable to pay to the owner damages for the use and occupation of any land;
17. (18) "owner" includes a mortgagee in possession, a person who for the time being is receiving or is entitled to receive, or has received, the rent or premium for any land whether on his own account or on account of or on behalf or for the benefit of, any other person or as an agent, trustee guardian, or receiver for any other person or for any religious or charitable institution, or who would so receive the rent or premium or be entitled to receive the rent or premium if the land were let to tenant; and includes the Head of a Government department, General Manager of a Railway, the Secretary or other principal Officer of a local authority, statutory authority or company, in respect of properties under their respective control;
18. (19) "planning area" means any area declared to be a local planning area under this Act;
19. (20) "planning authority" means any local planning authority constituted under this Act;
20. (21) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules or regulations made under this Act;
21. (22) "public place" means any place or building which is open to the use and enjoyment of the public, whether it is actually used or enjoyed by the public or not, and whether the entry is regulated by any charge or not;
22. (23) "re-allocation of population" means, in relation to an area of bad layout or obsolete development or a slum area, the making available, in that area or elsewhere, of accommodation, for residential purposes or for carrying on business or other activities, together with amenities, to persons living or carrying on business or other activities, in the said area who have to be so accommodated so that the said area may be properly planned;
23. (24) "regulation" means a regulation made under this Act by the planning authority and includes zoning and other regulations made as a part of a development plan;
24. (25) "residence" includes the use for human habitation of any land or building or part thereof including gardens, ground, garages, stables and out-houses, if any, appertaining to such building and "residential" shall be construed accordingly;
25. (26) "rules" means rules made under this Act by the State Government; and
26. (27) "slum area" means any predominantly residential area where the dwellings which by reason of dilapidation, over-crowding, faulty arrangement of design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health or morals and which is defined by a development plan as a slum area.
27. (28) Words and expressions not defined in this Act have the same meaning as in the Bengal Municipal Act, 1932, as extended to Tripura.