Using a ‘Rurban’ classification instead of an urban tag can protect Goa’s villages and also ease public concern and unnecessary confusion
The urban population of Goa as per 2011 Census is 62.17% whereas the urban population living within the jurisdiction of statutory local bodies (municipalities) is less than 30%. Therefore, in the first instance there is a need to understand the Population Census concept, constitutional provision, statutory provision under the Goa Municipalities Act and Goa Land Revenue Code.
Under the population census, villages beyond the boundary of municipalities’ jurisdiction are considered as urban provided they satisfy all the three criteria viz population of at least 5,000, at least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits and population density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre. This classification serves only statistical purpose and gives an idea how urbanisation is taking place in India.
As per the Article 243Q of the Constitution of India, for constitution of municipalities, the Governor may declare an area as urban, having regard to the population of the area, density of the population therein, the revenue generated for local administration, the percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities, economic importance or such other factors as the Governor may deem fit. This constitutional provision has been aptly imbibed under Section 3 of Goa Municipalities Act, 1968.
These provisions are enabling provisions and not mandatory that all such areas are compulsorily to be declared as urban areas. The population census data would certainly help the states in exercising statutory provision to declare an area as Municipality or Municipal Corporation.
The debate on giving urban status to 56 villages under Section 2(38) of Goa Land Revenue Code has nothing to do with Article 243Q and statutory provision under the Goa Municipality Act. The Section 2(38) is primarily a revenue classification provision and it does not automatically create a municipality or dissolve a panchayat or alter TCP zoning or alter CRZ classification. But the question is why the government intends to give urban status to the villages under the Goa Land Revenue Code, how it would benefit the government and the public.
The 56 villages notified on 31-1-2020 are from nine talukas viz Pernem (4), Bardez (16), Bicholim (1), Sattari (1), Tiswadi (9), Ponda (9), Salcete (10), Mormugao (4) and Quepem (2). It appears that the list of 56 villages is directly taken from the list of census towns published under the population census 2011. But, Section 2(38) of Goa Land Revenue Code clearly states that any decision to declare a village as an urban area has to be based on density of population and of buildings in the area. The population census does not cover density of buildings in the area.
Therefore, the government has to either make an independent study of density of population and of buildings defining urban status criterion or amend the Section 2(38) itself, allowing the use of the latest available population census data as the criterion.
Interestingly, Calangute has been declared as an urban area under Section 2(38) vide notification dated 27-5-2021. The current debate, therefore, concerns the balance 55 villages. Calangute will be a good case study to understand how the urban area status has benefitted the government, the panchayat and the people in the area.
Once a village becomes an “urban area” under the Land Revenue Code, the consequences of urban status may include different land revenue rates, different treatment of building sites and non-agricultural lands, different valuation principles in revenue administration and impact on assessment registers maintained by the revenue authorities.
Further, conversion sanad charges may become higher, premiums may be assessed at urban rates, revenue valuation for conversion proposals may increase and market value assessments used by the Collector may be influenced. Any indirect consequences under any other law are a grey area to understand. Therefore, clarity by the government on what the urban area status means would alleviate the public concern.
It is important to note that under the TCP Act, the North Goa Planning Area and South Goa Planning Area include numerous villages governed by panchayats. Merely being inside a planning area has never converted those villages into municipalities. The word ‘Urban Area’ used in the Goa Land Revenue Code in relation to the constitutional provision and Goa Municipality Act provision probably might have created confusion with regard to the intent of the government. Even the Government of India has called such urban-like areas as RURBAN under the scheme the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) launched in February 2016.
The objective of the SPMRM scheme is to create urban-like infrastructure in rural areas while preserving the rural character by bridging the rural-urban divide in infrastructure and services, promoting local economic development, reducing poverty and unemployment, attracting investment to rural areas and creating planned growth centres in rural regions. Therefore, the government of Goa may very well take benefit of this scheme without even notifying such areas as ‘Urban Area’ under the Goa Land Revenue Code.
However, the legal question would be Can a village be declared an urban area under the Goa Land Revenue Code while continuing indefinitely under the Panchayati Raj framework without invoking the process contemplated by Article 243Q and the Goa Municipalities Act? Legally, a state can create classifications for revenue, land-use, taxation, planning or regulatory purposes. But whether such a classification can remain completely disconnected from the constitutional framework of Article 243Q is a more nuanced constitutional question. Therefore, government of Goa may take a clue from SPMRM scheme and explore amending the Goa Land Revenue Code by changing the nomenclature from ‘Urban Area’ to ‘Rurban Area’ to achieve its intent beyond SPMRM objectives.
(Dr Suresh Shanbhogue is a retired senior bureaucrat.)
