The Bihar Urban Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2022 | 29 Mar 2022

Why in News?

On March 28, 2022, Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad introduced the Bihar Urban Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the assembly, which was passed by voice vote.

Key Points

• Under the Bill, the obligation of consent of the landowners has been removed with the acquisition of land by a government authority as per the requirements of the master plan.
• Earlier, at the time of acquisition for urban development, the consent of 80 percent of the land owners or the consent of the owners of 80 percent of the total land area was obligatory.
• Under this bill, the state government can now acquire land according to the need at any place for urbanization. In lieu of this, compensation will be given to the person concerned with the land.
• Along with this, four other state bills were also passed in the assembly.
• The Bihar Taxation Laws (Relaxation of Time Limit Provisions) Bill, 2022 has exempted small taxpayers from filing returns in the state. Now they can file annual returns instead of quarterly. Composite scheme has been started for traders having annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore.
• Under the Bihar State University Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the maximum age limit for the chairman of the commission has been fixed at 75 years and for members 70 years. Earlier the age limit was fixed at 72 years for the Speaker and 65 years for the member.
• Now the consent of the state government will be mandatory in the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor in the Agricultural University. The search panel will suggest the names of three most suitable people to the state government. After this, the Vice-Chancellor will be elected with the consent of the Governor.