Article -252 of the Constitution of India , some facts

Article 252 of Constitution reads as follows-

Power of Parliament to legislate for two or more states by consent and adoption of such legislation  by any other state -(1) If it appears to the Legislature of two or more States to be desirable that any of the matters with respect to which Parliament has no power to make laws for expect as provided in articles 249 and 250 should be regulated in such States by Parliament by law, and if resolutions to that effect are passed by all Houses of Legislatures of those States, it shall be lawful for Parliament to pass an Act for regulating that matter accordingly, and any Act so passed shall apply to such States and to any other State by which it is adopted afterwards by resolution passed by the House or , where there are two Houses, by each of the House of the Legislature of that State.

In the same article there is provision of repeal of such Act which reads as follows Article 252(2)

Any Act so passed by Parliament may be amended or repealed by an Act of Parliament passed or adopted in like manner but shall not, as respects any States to which it applies, be amended or repealed by an Act of the Legislature of that State. Indian constitution has three list on which laws could be made. Seventh schedule List-I is Union List which is subject on which Parliament is competent to make laws. List-II is State List on which State Legislature is competent to make laws. List-III is Concurrent List on which both Parliament and State Legislature are competent to make Laws. In case of contradiction of both laws framed on a subject by Parliament an State Legislature on a subject of Concurrent list Parliamentary Law will be having overriding effect. In nutshell on the State Subject apart from State Legislature even Parliament can make law under Article252 as explained earlier. 

Some of laws made under Article-252 need to be mentioned here.

• Subject of Sanitation falls under State List under entry six i.e. public health & Sanitation hospital and & dispensary. Parliament under Article-252 has made law for Abolition of Manual Scavenging and this law was adopted by many States and it was applicable to all Union Territories. However when need was felt that Act need to be given more power for eradication of manual scavenging, a new law was made by Parliament as Union Subject. Instead of manual Scavenging as State subject and it's abolition was considered as subject of Human Dignity and therefore instead of taking recourse to Article 252 new Act was framed as a central subject by Parliament.

• Interesting fact is that Land is State Subject under entry -18 of State List and it were only State Legislatutes who were competent to make law on subject of Land. But interestingly during National Emergency it was felt that on the pattern of Rural Ceiling, in urban areas also Ceiling may be enforced. This legislation was primarily socialistic in nature. Since country was under National Emergency many State Legislature requested for Parliamentary Legislation on Urban Ceiling. A new law for urban Ceiling known as Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act (ULCRA) was passed by Parliament. This Act was passed on the recommendation of many States Legislature including Haryana. After passing of Act, it became operative in nearly 16 States and all Union Territories. But conditions under Act did not qualify any urban agglomeration of State of Haryana. Therefore Act never became applicable in the state Of Haryana. Act was applicable in States such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal many other States and Union Territory of Delhi.

• The expectation was that once implemented nearly 2,59,000 Hectares of Land will be available with States as surplus urban land which will be made available for providing Houses for urban poor. This Ceiling Act which came in operation in 1976 had many provision of exemptions. Taking advantages of provisions of exemptions nearly 50000 hectares of land was notified as surplus land in the first stance and data available only 19000 hectares of land were made urban surplus, and coincidently details of which were also not available. It also could not be ascertained how many houses were constructed for urban poor with the implementation of this Act.

• There were serious allegations of corruption in implementation of the Act. Under this Act there were provisions for ceiling of land holding, which generally was that no one could  keep a piece of land more than 500 square meter land in urban agglomeration. With this limited pieces of land vertical growth in urban housing  could not take place.

• There has been demand for Abolition of this Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act (ULCRA).This demand was made during Prime Minister period of Late Shri I .K .Gujral.

• In the year 1998 under NDA(National Democratic Alliance) lead by late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee it was decided to repeal this Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act(ULCRA).This task was assigned to Sri Ram Jethmalani , a great legal luminary who was then Minister Urban Development dealing with this subject. Again taking advantage of Article-252 (2) two State Legislature i.e. State of Punjab & Haryana gave recommendation of repeal of this Act. Based of these recommendation first an ordinance was promulgated and subsequently Act for repealed by Parliament. Subsequently most of states adopted this repeal Act. This was one of the reform agenda under Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal mission(JNNURM).Of course to address the issue of poor, advisories were given to all states/ Union Territories that while sanctioning housing projects minimum 20 to 25 percentage of Floor Area Ratio(FAR) must be reserved for Economically Weaker/Lowe Income Group. Apart from this States/UT we're also also advised to put vacant land tax in order to avoid hoarding of surplus land. This Repeal of ULCRA, and subsequently its adoption of National Housing & Habitat Policy brought an revolution in Urban Housing. The great vision of Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee of Abolition of the said Act and contribution made by Late Ram Jehmalani will be remembered for Urban Housing. There is no doubt that Repeal of ULCRA has been very useful for country, house ware method adopted needs some examination in the spirit of Constitution.

• One of the State i.e. Haryana Legislature resolved in favour of Urban Ceiling, in which Act was not applicable and Act was repealed on recommendation of Haryana Legislature, where it was not affected in any way. Is it the intention of Constitution framers that any two state Legislature can make recommendation to make law on state subject even if Act will not be applicable in their state or those two states recommendation should be taken, which  are getting affected by such legislation needs a deliberation.

Writer

S.K Singh I.A.S (Retd.)

Presently: Member (Administrative/Technical) Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, Bihar.

Has Served as a director In Govt. Of India 19982003 When the ULCRA  was repealed.

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