Ranchi, July 22: The state’s decision to finally scrap the Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act, 1976, will free about 4,000 acres of land spread over Ranchi and Dhanbad, thereby setting the stage for a possible real estate boom.

These plots were hitherto “locked” in legal cases filed under the act, which had stipulated that no one could hold more than 30 cottahs in urban areas.

Although the act was repealed by the Centre way back in 1999, it was still in force in Jharkhand. In 2007, the state had submitted an undertaking to the Centre, promising to repeal the act. Finally, on July 20, the governor’s advisory council agreed to scrap it in a bid to reap the Centre’s largesse under the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Dhanbad and Ranchi, along with Jamshedpur, have been selected for development under JNNURM.

“Over 3,000 acres were locked in 249 cases under the Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act. A total of 252 cases were filed in the late 70s after the act came into existence. Of them, only three were disposed in the past three decades,” Dhanbad deputy collector (land ceiling) A.B. Choubey told The Telegraph.

In Ranchi, 502 cases were lodged. About half of them have been dispensed with.

“A total of 232 cases are pending now. We will wait for the gazette notification before disposing of these cases,” said Ranchi additional collector (land ceiling) Chitaranjan Kumar.

Sources said the act was never implemented in its spirit. No survey or master plan was conducted at the level of district administrations to acquire land. As a result, it gave ample scope to the government authorities to indulge in corrupt practices.

Over the years, the administration failed to take actual possession of a majority of plots that surpassed the ceiling limit of 30 cottahs while the cases dragged on in courts.

There are ample examples of disputed plots getting sold or registered through the district sub-registrar office.

In many cases, influential landowners even managed to get back the ceiling plots after lodging a partition suit (dated before 1976) and in connivance with state officials, sources added.

Several land revenue ministers were also accused of misusing the defunct law.

“The ceiling plots were earlier in illegal possession of the owners. Now, they will again become legal owners. This will surely pave the way for a realty boom as once-wary developers are bound to pounce on the opportunity and start building projects on these free plots,” said an official of Ranchi district administration.

Another gainer will be an industrial house that owns acres of land spread over the state capital, including busy Lalpur Chowk, and the developer of a posh shopping complex coming up on Main Road.

However, the fate of state-run institutions like State Institute of Rural Development on Ratu Road will be at stake. For, the institute was built on ceiling land taken over from surplus quota of the Shahdeos, the Ratu Maharaja family.

“Although the state is in real possession of about 60 acres, taken from land lords whose plots crossed the 30-cottah ceiling, suitable compensation (based on government rate) was never given to them. This is because the state land reforms and revenue department did not earmark a fund for the purpose,” pointed out a senior government official, who had served as a revenue official in Ranchi district.

“Hence, in all 502 cases, the original land owners will now want their plots to be returned,” he added.