Rajasthan passes Bill to regulate property sales in ‘disturbed areas’

7 MARCH 2026

Amid vociferous protests by the Opposition Congress members, the Rajasthan Assembly passed a Bill empowering the State government to designate specific localities as “disturbed” to deal with distress sale of properties, “demographic imbalance” and infringement of tenants’ rights.
The Rajasthan Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from the Premises in Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026, passed with voice vote after a marathon debate lasting five hours, aims at preventing “improper clustering”, defined as the concentration of a single community due to coercive or distress-driven circumstances that may lead to communal tension.
Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani declared the Bill has having been passed after rejecting the proposals to circulate it for eliciting public opinion and refer it to a Select Committee.
Rajasthan has become the second State after Gujarat to implement such as a law, which has already raised concern among the civil rights groups over its tone and tenor.

Disturbed Area

Under the provisions of the Bill, the identification of “disturbed areas” will be based on riots or mob violence or the possibility of clustering of people from a particular community in a manner that could disturb the demographic balance of the locality.
An area may be notified as disturbed for up to three years under the proposed legislation.
Any transfer of immovable property in such notified areas during the specified period will be considered null and void.
Individuals intending to transfer property in a “disturbed area” will have to obtain prior sanction from a competent authority.
Under the Bill’s punitive provisions, any person who disobeys or facilitates the violation of an order issued by the competent authority will face imprisonment ranging from three to five years and a fine of at least ₹1 lakh or 10% of the fair value of the property, whichever is higher.
The law also provides protection to tenants in riot-affected areas.
If a building is destroyed during riots, the landlord will be required to reconstruct it and provide accommodation to the tenant in the new building.