Gujarat act 013 of 2007 : Gujarat Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2007

Section 1. Short title and commencement

1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2007.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

Section 2. Amendment of section 2 of Guj. 34 of 1964

2. Amendment of section 2 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963 (Guj. 34 of 1964) (hereinafter referred to as the "principal Act"), in section 2,-

(a) clause (1) shall be deleted;

(b) after clause (2), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-

"(2A) "carpet area" means the floor area of a building excluding the area over which a wall whether outer or inner is erected;

(c) after clause (3A), the following shall be inserted, namely:-

"(3B) "chawl" means a building consisting of two or more tenements whether having common sanitary and other facilities or not and declared as such by the Director of Municipalities by notification in the Official Gazette;".

Section 3. Amendment of section 99 of Guj. 34 of 1964

3. Amendment of section 99 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act in section 99, in sub-section (1), in clause (i), for the words "annual letting value or the capital value or percentage of capital value", the words "carpet area" shall be substituted;

Section 4. Insertion of new section 99A in Guj. 34 of 1964

4. Insertion of new section 99A in Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, after section 99, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-

"99A. Tax on buildings and lands.- (1) For the purposes of clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 99, the tax shall, subject to such exceptions, limitations and conditions hereinafter provided, be levied annually on the buildings or lands situate in the municipal borough area at such rate per square metre of the carpet area of buildings and of the area of lands (hereinafter referred to as "the rate of tax") as the municipality may determine having regard to the factors as the State Government may prescribe by rules.

(2) For the purpose of levy of tax on buildings or lands situate within the municipal borough under sub-section (1),-

(a) the buildings may be classified into residential buildings and buildings other than the residential buildings; and

(b) the municipality may determine one rate of tax for residential buildings and the other rate of tax for buildings other than the residential buildings:

Provided that it shall be lawful for the municipality to determine for residential buildings, the carpet area of which does not exceed forty square metres, such rate of tax as is lower than the rate of tax determined for residential buildings generally:

Provided further that the rates of tax per square metre of carpet area shall be decided by municipality with the approval of the Director of Municipalities.

(3) In lieu of the tax leviable under sub-section (1) read with sub-section (2), there shall be levied annually on,-

(a) residential huts, and

(b) residential tenements in a chawl, each such tenement having carpet area not exceeding twenty-five square metres,

such amount of tax as the Municipality may determine:

Provided that the amount so determined shall not be less than such amount as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify.

Explanation.-For the purpose of levy of tax under this section, where an addition is made to an existing building whereby the carpet area of that building is increased, such addition shall be treated as a separate building and the length of the time of its existence shall be computed from the year in which the addition is made.".

Section 5. Amendment of section 100 of Guj. 34 of 1964

5. Amendment of section 100 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 100,-

(1) in sub-section (1),

(a) the word, brackets and letter "or (b)" shall be deleted;

(b) for the words, brackets and figures "sub-sections (2) and (3)", the words, bracket and figure "sub-section (3)" shall be substituted.

(2) sub-section (2) shall be deleted;

(3) in sub-section (3), for the words, brackets and figure "a rateable value of the same amount as that fixed under sub-section (2)", the words "on the basis of carpet area of the buildings" shall be substituted.

Section 6. Amendment of section 101 of Guj. 34 of 1964

6. Amendment of section 101 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 101, in clause (a), in item (iii), for the word "valuation on which such tax is to be imposed", the word "manner of assessment of such tax to be imposed" shall be substituted.

Section 7. Amendment of section 105 of Guj. 34 of 1964

7. Amendment of section 105 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 105,-

(1) in sub-section (1), for clause (d), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

"(d) the assessment based on the carpet area and of the area of land of the property made in accordance with sub-section (1) of section 99A.";

(2) in sub-section (2) for the words beginning with the words "where the valuation" and ending with the words "the said valuation", the words, brackets, letter and figure, "where the assessment is determined under clause (d) of sub-section (1), a sum equal to ten percentum of the said assessment" shall be substituted;

(3) in sub-section (3), for the words "the annual letting value and his estimate of the value of such building of land", the words "the carpet area of such building and of the area of land" shall be substituted.

Section 8. Amendment of section 108 of Guj. 34 of 1964

8. Amendment of section 108 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 108,-

(1) in sub-section (1),-

(i) the words "valuation or" shall be deleted;

(ii) for the word "valuation", the word "carpet area" shall be substituted;

(2) in sub-section (2),-

(i) the words "valuation and" shall be deleted;

(ii) the words "valuation or" shall be deleted;

(3) in sub-section (4), the words "valuation and" shall be deleted;

(4) in sub-section (6), in item (i), for the words "of the valuation, or annual letting value on the basis prescribed in the rules", the words "of the assessment under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 105" shall be substituted.

Section 9. Amendment of section 111 of Guj. 34 of 1964

9. Amendment of section 111 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 111, in sub-section (1), the words "valuation and" shall be deleted.

Section 10. Amendment of section 112 of Guj. 34 of 1964

10. Amendment of section 112 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 112, in sub-section (1), the words "valuation and" shall be deleted.

Section 11. Amendment of section 113 of Guj. 34 of 1964

11. Amendment of section 113 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 113,-

(1) in sub-section (1), the brackets, figure and word "(4) and" shall be deleted;

(2) sub-sections (3), (4) and (5) shall be deleted.

Section 12. Deletion of section 114 of Guj. 34 of 1964

12. Deletion of section 114 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, section 114, shall be deleted.

Section 13. Amendment of section 271 of Guj. 34 of 1964

13. Amendment of section 271 of Guj. 34 of 1964.- In the principal Act, in section 271, in clause (l), the words beginning with "the conditions" and ending with "of such taxes;" shall be deleted.