1. (1) This Act may be called the Uttar Pradesh Shree Devipatan Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad Act, 2023 .
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
3. (1) The State Government shall, by notification in the Gazette, constitute for this Act, a Parishad, to be called the Shree Devipatan Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad.
4. (1) There shall be an Executive Vice-Chairperson of the Parishad to be appointed by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
5. (1) There shall be an Executive Committee to exercise the powers and the functions of the Parishad in the event of an emergency or other time-sensitive matters when it is not practicable to assemble the entire Parishad. The Executive Committee shall comprise of all the ex-officio members of the Parishad and shall be chaired by the Chief Secretary.
6. (1) The Parishad shall, as soon as may be, after the commencement of this Act, constitute a Planning and Development Committee, for assisting the Parishad in the discharge of its functions.
7. (1) The Parishad or the Planning and Development Committee may meet at any time and for such period as it thinks fit, co-opt any person or persons as a member or members of the Parishad or of the Planning and Development Committee;
8. The headquarter of the Parishad shall be at Balrampur.
9. The Parishad shall meet at such times and at such place as may be determined by it from time to time.
10. The Planning and Development Committee shall meet at such times as may be decided by the Chairperson of the Planning and Development Committee or directed by the Vice-Chairperson of the Parishad but the time between two consecutive meetings shall not exceed sixty days.
11. No act or proceeding of the Parishad or of the Planning and Development Committee shall be invalid merely by reason of the existence of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of the Parishad or the Planning and Development Committee as the case may be.
12. The quorum for the meetings of the Parishad and the Planning and Development Committee shall comprise of 2/3 rd of the members, rounded down to nearest integer.
13. The powers of the Parishad shall include the powers to-
14. The functions of the Parishad shall be-
15. (1) The functions of the Planning and Development Committee shall be to assist the Parishad in-
16. (1) The Plan shall be a written statement and shall be accompanied by such maps, diagrams, illustrations, and descriptive matters, as the Parishad may deem appropriate for explaining or illustrating the proposals contained in the Plan and every such maps, diagrams, illustration, and descriptive matters shall be deemed to be a part of the Plan;
17. For the preparation of the Plan, the Parishad may cause such surveys and studies as it may consider necessary to be made by such participating departments or persons as it may appoint in this behalf and may also associate such experts or consultants for carrying out studies in relation to such specific matters as may be determined by it.
18. (1) Before finalising the Plan, the Parishad shall prepare with the assistance of the Planning and Development Committee, a Plan in draft and publish it by making a copy thereof available for inspection and publishing a notice in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed inviting objections and suggestions from any person with respect to the draft Plan before such date as may be specified in the notice.
19. Immediately after the Plan has been finally prepared, the Parishad shall publish, in such manner as may be prescribed, a notice stating that the Plan has been finally prepared by it and naming the places where a copy of the Plan may be inspected at all reasonable hours and upon the date of first publication of the aforesaid notice, the Plan shall come into force and will be deemed to have been duly prepared.
20. (1) The Parishad may, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) make such modifications in the Plan, as it may think fit, which in its opinion do not affect important character of the Plan and which do not relate to the extent of land uses or the standards of population density.
21. (1) After every five years from the date of coming into operation of the finally prepared Plan, the Parishad shall review such Plan in its entirety and may, after such review, substitute it by a fresh Plan or may carry out such modifications or alterations therein as may be found by it to be necessary in concurrence with Planning and Development Committee.
22. (1) A participating department may, by itself or in collaboration with one or more of the participating departments, as the case may be, prepare Project Plans for one more element of the Plan.
23. The State Government may, after due appropriation made by Legislature by law in this behalf, make to the Parishad grants, advances and loans of such sums of money as it may consider necessary to enable the Parishad to carry out its functions under this Act.
24. (1) There shall be constituted a Fund to be called the Shree Devipatan Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad Fund, to be maintained in a separate bank account of its own and there shall be credited thereto,-
25. The Parishad shall prepare in such form and at such time every year, as the State Government may specify, a budget for the next ensuing financial year and forward the same to the State Government at least ninety days prior to the commencement of the financial year.
26. The Parishad shall prepare for every year a report of its activities during that year and submit the report to the State Government in such form and on or before such date as the State Government may specify and such report shall be laid before both Houses of the State Legislature.
27. (1) The Parishad shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts including the balance sheet in such form as applicable to the various State Government Departments.
28. The State Government shall cause the annual report and the auditors report to be laid as soon as may be after their receipts, before each House of the State Legislature while it is in session.
29. (1) If, in the opinion of the State Government, any land is required for the development or for any other purpose under this Act, the State Government may acquire such land under the provisions of the Rights to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Act no. 30 of 2013).
30. No change of purpose or related purposes for which land is originally sought to be acquired shall be allowed except for as provided in the Act referred to in sub-section (1) of section 29.
31. When any land acquired for this Act remains unutilized it shall be disposed of according to the provisions of the Act referred to in sub-section (1) of section 29.
32. The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of any other Act or law for the time being in force.
33. The State Government may, from time to time, give such directions to the Parishad as it may think fit for the efficient administration of this Act and the Parishad shall be bound to comply with such directions.
34. (1) The State Government may direct any of its departments to provide, on such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon, such technical assistance to the Parishad as it may consider necessary.
35. (1) The State Government may appoint one person each as Additional Chief Executive Officer and the Finance Officer of the Parishad who shall exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be prescribed by regulations or delegated to them by the Parishad or the Chief Executive Officer.
36. The Parishad may, by general or special order, direct that any function or power (other than the power to approve the Plan, modifications and alterations therein and to make regulations), or duty performed, exercised or discharged by it under this Act or the rules made there under shall, subject to such conditions, if any, as may specified in such order, be performed, exercised or discharged also by such officer as may be specified in the said order and where any such delegation of power is made, the officer to whom such power is delegated shall perform, exercise or discharge those powers.
37. Subject to any rules made in this behalf, any person generally or specially authorized by the Parishad in this behalf, may, at all reasonable times, enter upon any land or premises and do such things thereon as may be necessary for the purpose of lawfully carrying out any works or for making any survey, examination or investigation, preliminary or incidental to the exercise of any power or performance of any function by the Parishad under this Act :
38. The Officers and other employees of the Parishad shall be deemed, when acting or purporting to act in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act, to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act no. 45 of 1860).
39. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Parishad, Planning and Development Committee, their Members, officers or employees including any other person authorized by them to exercise any power or to discharge any function under this Act for anything which is done or intended to be done in good faith under this Act.
40. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
41. (1) The Parishad may, with the previous approval of the State Government by notification in the Gazette make regulations not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made there under to carry out the provisions of this Act.
42. (1) Where the State Government is satisfied that the purpose for which the Parishad was established under this Act have been substantially achieved or the Parishad has failed in its objectives, so as to render the continued existence of the Parishad in the opinion of the State Government unnecessary, the State Government may, by notification in the Gazette, declare that the Parishad shall be dissolved with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification; and the Parishad shall be deemed to have been dissolved accordingly.
43. (1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the State Government may, for removing such difficulty, by order published in the Gazette, direct that the provision of this Act shall, during such period as may be specified in the order, have effect subject to such adaptations, whether by way of modification, addition or omission, as it may deem to be necessary and expedient.