Odisha amends 65-year-old urban development Act

The new Bill is said to be practical and progressive

Naveen Patnaik

The Odisha Assembly on Saturday passed the Odisha Town Planning and Improvement Trust (Amendment) Bill, 2021, by amending the 65-year-old the Odisha Town Planning and Improvement Trust Act, 1956

The new bill on urban development is touted to be practical, progressive and relevant to the contemporary times.

According to the Housing and Urban Development department, the archaic and redundant provisions concerning to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, have been done away with. Modern concepts of planning such as transferable development rights have been introduced.

Common application forms to ensure uniformity and single window disposal system and the state-of-the-art online building plan approval system across all the urban local bodies of the State have been proposed.

Moreover, standardising the planning norms across the State by bringing the Odisha Town Planning and Improvement Trust Act, 1956 at par with the Odisha Development Authority Act, 1982 is a major feature of the new Bill.

As per the new amendments, town planning function has been delegated to all the urban local bodies in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.

With introduction of provisions of demolition of unauthorised construction, the new law is expected to ensure better enforcement mechanism.