(Article) Draft Model Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2011

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Rationale for New Law:

Slum Free India: The Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry proposed the strengthening of its Slum redevelopment strategy by working towards a slum free India, and assigning property rights to Slum Dwellers, under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). – Poverty Alleviation, Remedies for ill Effects of Urbanisation, Integration with Earlier Schemes

Inclusive Urban Development:  RAY proposes decisive action for inclusive urban development that acknowledges the presence of the poor in cities, recognizes their contribution as essential to the city's functioning, and redresses the fundamental reasons for inequity that ties them down to poverty. – Recognizing Importance of Poor,

Global Practice: The conferment of property title is a new direction for national policy that aligns national approach to the global practice. It sees ownership of property as the best investment in democracy, by creating for the household due space within the formal system, and thereby a vested interest in peace and legal order. – Peace & Legal Order

Reforming Formal System: The Model law is aimed at bringing within the formal system, those who are forced to live in extra-formal spaces and in denial of right to services and amenities available to those with legal title to city spaces, and at correcting the deficiencies of the formal system of urban development and town planning that have failed to create conditions of inclusiveness and equity, so that, henceforth, new urban families, whether by way of migration or natural growth of population, have recourse to housing with civic amenities, and are not forced from lack of options to create encroachments and slums and live extralegal lives in conditions of deprivation of rights and amenities. – Inclusive Growth, Equity, Justice,

Capital Flow: The Model law intends to enable the household to access the formal channels of credit; it draws the entire extralegal economy of slums out of the informal market; it enriches the slum dweller by giving him access to mortgageable rights for housing construction, and the formal economy by enabling a quarter of its population to participate in its growth. – Crushing Informal Markets & thus Black Money Circulation

Welfare State: The importance that Central Government gives to this measure for inclusion and equity may be gauged from the decision to link central support for slum redevelopment with the empowering of the slum household with property rights. – Slum Development, Empowering Poor

The Salient Features:

• Facilitation of inclusive growth and slum-free cities, to provide assured security of tenure, basic amenities and affordable housing to the slum-dwellers. —Enhancing Security & ILO’s Basic Need Approach

• Every landless person living in a slum area in any city or urban area on 4th June, 2009 shall be entitled to a dwelling space at an affordable cost. —Conforming to Definition of Healthy City given by UN-Habitat

• Every Slum dweller or the Collective of the Slum Dwellers shall be given a legal entitlement, which shall be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife.— Women Empowerment

• Every slum dweller eligible shall be provided with basic civic services until the site for the dwelling space has been developed. — State’s Responsibility, Welfare State

• The dwelling space so provided shall not be transferable but allowed to be mortgageable for raising housing loan, or in need to sell- but only to the Government or the Collective as the case may be. — Plugging Loopholes of Earlier Schemes
• The dwelling space may be provided in-situ as far as possible, provided in cases on public interest they shall be resettled elsewhere. — Striking Balance Between Public Interest & Displacement Issues
• Constitution of a Grievance Redressal Committee for the purposes of resolving disputes in relation to matters about identification of slum dwellers. — Grievance Redressal
• State Government shall prescribe and notify participative and transparent procedures for identification and periodic survey of slum dwellers for purpose of granting legal entitlement to slum dwellers. — Cooperative Federalism
• Establishment of City / Urban Area Slum Redevelopment Committee for implementing the provisions of the Act namely- to survey and make a list of slum dwellers, make an inventory of existing position regarding slum areas, formulate schemes for slum redevelopment/up-gradation/resettlement and for rental housing (including dormitories and night shelters) for the urban poor and slum-dwellers in-eligible etc. — Streamlining Procedures
• Establishment of a State Slum Redevelopment Authority (to be headed by the Chief Minister) to continuously monitor implementation of the Act and to recommend corrective measures wherever necessary. — Delegated of Powers
• Emphasis on Community Participation by providing for establishment of Slum Development Committee for each slum area comprising of members for plan preparation, implementation, monitoring & evaluation, and post project maintenance. — Participative Approach, Planning From Below
• Power to acquire land for redevelopment/up-gradation and for resettlement under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 as amended from time to time. — Streamlining Laws
• Responsibility of the Government to prevent encroachment or of construction of illegal structures towards which necessary amendment to the Municipal and other Acts need to be undertaken. — Preventing Encroachments & Following Up of Existing Laws
• Civil courts not to have jurisdiction on matters for which the City/Urban Area Slum Redevelopment Committee, State Slum Redevelopment Committee, Grievance Redressal Committee, or the Tribunal is empowered. — Defining Judicial Jurisdictions
• Power of the State Government to make rules on matters specified in the Act. — Defining Powers of the State Legislature

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