{"id":84025,"date":"2026-01-24T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=84025"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:18:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T05:48:40","slug":"rajasthan-disturbed-areas-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rajasthan-disturbed-areas-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajasthan Disturbed Areas Act: Why Gujarat-Style Property Law Is Triggering Constitutional Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Rajasthan Disturbed Areas Act Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rajasthan is preparing to introduce a Bill to declare <\/span><b>certain localities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as \u201c<\/span><b><i>disturbed areas<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d to address what it describes as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">demographic imbalance and improper clustering<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though the draft is not public yet, it closely mirrors Gujarat\u2019s 1991 Disturbed Areas Act.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the state government presents the move as necessary to <\/span><b>preserve communal harmony<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Gujarat law it draws from has faced sustained criticism over constitutional concerns and repeated judicial curbs on executive overreach in private property transactions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act: An Overview<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enacted in 1991 after repeated communal riots, the <\/span><b><i>Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was designed to prevent \u201cdistress sales\u201d of property during periods of violence or intimidation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its stated aim was to protect vulnerable property owners from being forced to sell assets below market value due to fear or coercion.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>How the Act Works<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the law, the state government can notify an area as a \u201cdisturbed area\u201d based on a history of communal violence or mob unrest.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once notified, any <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transfer of immovable property \u2014 including houses, shops or land \u2014 requires prior approval from the district collector<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transactions carried out without this sanction are deemed void.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Role of the District Collector<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The collector is mandated to conduct a formal inquiry before granting approval, to ensure that the sale is voluntary and not the result of pressure, threat or inducement.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This administrative scrutiny is central to the functioning of the Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Constitutional and Legal Concerns<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critics argue that by regulating property transactions, the Act effectively enables the state to influence the demographic composition of neighbourhoods.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This raises concerns under <\/span><b>Article 19(1)(e),<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which guarantees the right to reside and settle anywhere in India, and <\/span><b>Article 15<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which prohibits discrimination on grounds such as religion or caste.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legal scholars contend that the law risks curbing free movement and organic social integration under the guise of protection.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Legal Scrutiny of the Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The constitutional validity of the Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act is currently being examined by the Gujarat High Court.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two key petitions, filed in January 2021 and August 2022, are pending before benches led by the Chief Justice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Gujarat sought an interim stay in 2024, alleging misuse of the Act to harass citizens.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The High Court refused interim relief. The Supreme Court also declined to intervene, directing an expedited hearing in the High Court instead.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Challenge to the 2020 Amendment<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Petitioners, however, succeeded in challenging the 2020 amendment that expanded the Act\u2019s scope.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The amendment introduced vague concepts such as \u201cproper clustering\u201d and \u201cdemographic equilibrium,\u201d granting collectors wider discretionary powers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In January 2021, the Gujarat High Court stayed the operation of these expanded provisions, preventing the state from issuing notifications under the amended language. This interim stay remains in force.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Relevance to Rajasthan\u2019s Proposal<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Rajasthan government\u2019s stated objective of preventing \u201cimproper clustering\u201d closely mirrors the language of the stayed Gujarat amendment, raising fresh constitutional and legal concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Free Consent and Fair Market Value: Limits on State Power<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Collector\u2019s Authority Under Judicial Review<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Although the Disturbed Areas Act declares the collector\u2019s decision final, the Gujarat High Court has consistently exercised judicial review under <\/span><b><i>Article 226<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to check administrative overreach and rights violations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Narrow Scope of Collector\u2019s Inquiry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Through multiple rulings, the High Court has clarified that a collector\u2019s role is strictly limited to verifying <\/span><b>two factors<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: whether the sale reflects free consent and whether it is at fair market value. No other considerations are permitted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Law and Order Grounds Rejected<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; In a March 2020 case involving a Hindu seller and Muslim buyers in Vadodara, the High Court quashed a collector\u2019s refusal based on police reports citing law and order concerns. The court held such inquiries irrelevant to the Act\u2019s purpose.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>No Role for Neighbours\u2019 Objections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The court has repeatedly ruled that neighbours have no legal standing in private property transactions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Police Reports as Extraneous Considerations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; In October 2023, the High Court set aside another collector\u2019s rejection that relied on police inputs. The court reiterated that relying on such extraneous grounds amounted to jurisdictional overreach.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Core Purpose of the Act Reaffirmed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; As recently as September 2025, the High Court emphasised that the Act\u2019s sole objective is to prevent distress sales caused by coercion or fear \u2014 not to manage law and order or regulate demographic patterns.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/rajasthan-gujarat-disturbed-areas-law-10490568\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rajasthan Disturbed Areas Act proposal revives Gujarat-style restrictions on property sales. Learn what the law is, why courts intervened, and key constitutional concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":84070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,4921,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-84025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-rajasthan-disturbed-areas-act","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}