Ordinance to restore Bhopal gas victims' property

NK SINGH

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Government on Thursday promulgated an ordinance for the restoration of moveable property sold by some people while fleeing Bhopal in panic following the gas leakage. The ordinance covers any transaction made by a person residing within the limits of the municipal corporation of Bhopal and specifies the period of the transaction as December 3 to December 24, 1984, 

Any person who sold the moveable property within the specified period for a consideration which he feels was not commensurate with the prevailing market price may apply to the competent authority to be appointed by the state Government for declaring the transaction of sale to be void. 

The applicant will furnish in his application the name and address of the purchaser, details of the moveable property sold, consideration received, the date and place of sale and any other particular which may be required. 

The competent authority, on receipt of such an application, will conduct an inquiry giving due opportunity to the parties to the transaction to place all relevant facts and documents before it and pass an order returning the property sold to the seller on repayment of the amount of consideration by the seller.

Where the purchaser fails to return the property within 15 days of the passing of this order or where, in the opinion of the competent authority, it is not feasible to return the property, the authority will pass an order fixing the price of such property according to the market value of such property prevalent on the date of sale and direct the purchaser to pay the difference of price to the seller within 15 days.

If the purchaser fails to pay within this period the amount specified it shall be recoverable from him as arrears of land revenue and the amount so recovered will be paid to the seller.

Failure of the purchaser to pay will, in addition to any other action for securing payment by the competent authority, be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to Rs 1000 both.

An appeal will be against the order passed by the competent authority to such appellate authority as may be appointed by the state Government within 30 days of the passing of the order by the competent authority.

The jurisdiction of the civil court has been barred both in respect of orders passed by the competent authority and appellate authority. The proceedings before the competent authority or the appellate authority will be deemed to be judicial proceedings.

Indian Express

January 24, 1985