12. Power to fix highway boundaries, building line and control line of highway.
(1)In any area in which the provisions of this Act have been brought into force, and(a)where any roadway or land has been declared to be a highway under this Act; or(b)where the construction or development of a highway is undertaken;the State Government may, by notification, in the official Gazette, fix or modify with respect to such highway, the highway boundaries, the building line and the control line with a view to demarcate the area appurtenant to a highway in order to regulate the use of such area :Provided that having regard to the situation or the requirement of a highway or the local circumstances, it shall be lawful for the State Government-(i)to fix different building lines or control lines; or(ii)not to fix building lines or control lines in respect of any highway or portions thereof.(2)Not less than sixty days before issuing a notification under sub-section (1), the State Government shall cause to be published in the official Gazette and in the prescribed manner in the village and at the head quarters of the Tehsil and the District in which the highway is situated, a notification stating that it proposes to issue a notification in terms of sub-section (1) and specifying therein all the land situated between the highway boundary and the building line and between the building line and the control line proposed to be fixed under such notification together with a notice requiring all persons affected by such notification, who may wish to make any objection or suggestion with respect to the issue of such notification, to submit their objections or suggestions in writing to the Highway Authority or appear before such authority within one month of the publication of the notification in the official Gazette or within fifteen days from the date of the publication of the notification in the village, whichever period expires later.(3)The Highway Authority shall, after all such objections or suggestions have been considered or heard, as the case may be and after such further enquiry, if any, as it may think necessary, within a period of six months, forward to the State Government a copy of the record of the proceedings held by it together with a report setting forth its recommendations on the objections and suggestions.(4)If, after the expiry of the time allowed by sub-section (2), for the filing or hearing of objections or suggestions, no objection or suggestion has been made, the State Government shall proceed at once to issue the notification under sub-section (1). If any such objection or suggestion has been made, the State Government shall consider the record and the report referred to in sub- section (3) and may, either,-(a)abandon the proposal to issue a notification under sub-section (1), or(b)issue the notification under sub-section (1) with such modifications, if any, as it may think fit :Provided that if no notification is issued under sub-section (1), within a period of six months from the appointed day the proposal shall be deemed to have been abandoned.(5)In considering the objections or suggestions, the decision of the State Government on the question of issuing the notification under sub-section (1) shall be final and conclusive.
