ULC Premium To Be Imposed Only On Surplus Vacant Land And Not Land Held Within Ceiling Limits

Introduction:

The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 ("the ULC Act") stood repealed by the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999 ("the Repeal Act"). On 3^rd September 2014, a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court considered the effect of the Repeal Act in Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry & Ors v State of Maharashtra & Anr. ¹ The majority held that exemptions granted under Section 20 of the ULC Act did not abate on repeal. The State Government ("State Government") appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice B.N. Srikrishna (as he then was) and this committee recommended that the issue of exemption orders under Section 20 could and should be closed by accepting a certain payment. This led to the State Government issuing two Government Resolutions dated 1^st August 2019 ("2019 GR") and 23^rd June, 2021 by which it effectively offered to close all pending issues regarding surplus land and retention land by accepting a