Gujarat: ‘Specified Areas’ to replace ‘Disturbed Areas’ in Act | Ahmedabad News

Gandhinagar: The state govt has proposed significant amendments to the Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in the Disturbed Areas Act, 1991. The draft bill, likely to be placed in the state assembly next week, proposes various procedural changes as well as dropping the words “disturbed areas” from the legislation and replacing them with “specified areas”. Section 9 of the draft Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in the Disturbed Areas (Amendment) Bill, 2026 reads, “In the principal Act except Section 17, for the words “disturbed area” or “disturbed areas”, wherever they occur, the words “specified area” or “specified areas” shall be substituted, respectively.” This amendment in Section 9 is being proposed “to avoid any unnecessary hardship to the persons for obtaining the approval for transfer of any immovable property situated in a specified area by way of mortgage in favour of a financial institution for the purpose of obtaining financial assistance from such institution…” The new draft bill proposes significant amendments in the Act and the empowerment of local committees along with the district collectors to prevent forced sale of properties in the communally disturbed or tense areas, which the amendment proposes to be called ‘specified areas’ henceforth. Sanjaysinh Mahida, the state revenue minister, is likely to present the bill in the state assembly next week. The statement of objectives of the new bill says, “…it is experienced that in many cases properties are transferred in contravention of the provisions of the Act and unscrupulous persons come in illegal possession thereby.” The statement of objectives adds, “In order to curb such illegal transfers of immovable property, and to protect the interest of the lawful owners, it is considered necessary to amend the aforesaid Act.” The amendment aims to expand the definition of “the person aggrieved” and, besides the parties involved in the sale/purchase of the property, the govt proposes to amend the law by including a third party — “a person residing in the specified area”. The draft bill also proposes a monitoring and advisory committee, which can conduct studies in any area to ascertain and advise the govt on whether the area was disturbed for a substantial period, and if it has become so or is likely to become prone to communal disturbance which may result in involuntary displacement of people. In this bid, a Special Investigation Team can assist the committee. The SIT can also assist the collector in examining the cases for the grant of sale permissions. The draft bill empowers the collector to take temporary possession of property if there is a violation of mandatory prior sale permission provision. The collector can do it suo motu or on a complaint made by a person aggrieved. The draft bill reads, “It is also considered necessary to safeguard the property of the transferor when a transferor fails to take possession of such property, the collector shall, suo moto or on an application made by any person aggrieved temporarily take such property in his custody and for that purpose, necessary amendment is proposed in sub-section (5) in Section 5A.” The govt has invoked the DA Act in areas that witness communal riots and disturbances for considerable periods of time, and restrictions on property transactions are imposed where distress sale of properties is feared.