MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh moved a resolution in the state Assembly on Monday for scrapping urban land ceiling law , amidst protests, particularly by the Shiv Sena and therefore, the chair deferred the debate to the monsoon session. The budget session ends on Tuesday.

Leader of the Opposition Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena) protested against the Government's move to get the urban land ceiling law scrapped on the penultimate day of the session.

The resolution involved release of 34 hectares of land worth Rs. 85,000 crore in Mumbai. His colleague, Subhash Desai said the move to make Mumbai a city of very expensive sky-scrappers where the poor would have no place.

BJP group leader Eknath Khadase said that his party would not be able to oppose the resolution seeking the application of a central law passed by the NDA Government. He noted that all but two states including Maharashtra, had consented to its application in their territories. He supported the need for a wider debate on the issue since it affected all cities in the State having municipal corporations.

The Urban land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act was enacted by Parliament in 1976 to control holding of the urban land make excess land available for housing the poor. But instead, the measure fuelled the real estate prices. The resolutions were passed by the Haryana and Punjab legislatures urging that its application to them be repealed by Parliament.

The Parliament passed the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act in 1999. The States could adopt this act by passing a resolution in their legislatures and repeal the urban land ceiling. The Maharashtra Government had agreed to get rid of the ceiling with a view to getting huge central assistance for urban development, particularly that of Mumbai.

While moving the resolution, Mr. Deshmukh told the Shiv Sena that it had, as part of the NDA, already approved the urban land ceiling repeal law. "I hope you would not change your stand now," he told the opposition.

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