The President of India has approved amendment in the disturbed areas act passed by Gujarat assembly.

Amendment in the Disturbed Areas Act was enacted to check illegal transfer of properties in the communally sensitive areas officially described as “disturbed areas” in Ahmedabad and Vadodara city.

Gujarat’s former governor S.C.Jamir had approved Disturbed Areas Act (Amendment) and sent it for Presidential nod in November 2009 after the bill was passed by the State Assembly in same year.

The act proposes to vest the district collector with sweeping powers so as to ensure effective implementation of the “Gujarat prohibition of transfer of immovable property and provision for protection of tenants from eviction from premises in Disturbed Areas Act, 1991.” The act empowers the district collector to hold inquiry suo muto or on an application from any person in cases where the possession of immovable property is in contravention of the relevant provisions of the Act.The act also provides for penalty for contravention of these provisions, and making the offense cognizable. The collector can take such property in his custody temporarily, manage the property in case transfer or fails to take its possession back, and also restrain a person (transferee) from making any improvement in the property.