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Urban Land Ceiling Act to go by month-end

Union Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani says the government will issue an ordinance to scrap the Urban Land Ceiling Act by this month-end.

Addressing a meeting at the Indian Merchants Chamber, Bombay, Jethmalani said it was his moral and political obligation to repeal the Act for the benefit of those who do not want it.

The Act is a hurdle before the construction industry, he added.

He said the opposition against the repeal of this Act was senseless as it deals with land which is a state subject. Parliament has no power to legislate on this subject. Every state has the right to pass the adoption statute.

Punjab and Haryana have asked the urban development ministry to repeal the Act whereas West Bengal has requested the central government to let it decide whether to pass the adoption statute.

''Maharashtra is the only state which has asked for scrapping of the Act and assured the ministry that it would pass an adoption statute,'' he added.

The minister said the ULCA had to go not because of its defective economics but because it had become an instrument of corruption.

UNI