JAIPUR: Residents planning to develop a homestay or guest houses in their residences under the Rajasthan Tourism Guest House Scheme, 2020 will face a setback as the Rajasthan High Court has put a ban on fresh permissions.
The court has ordered that no fresh tourism activities are being permitted under the Rajasthan Tourism Guest House Scheme, 2020. The order dated March 16 states that the Tourism Policy, 2020 is not applicable to the Kumbhalgarh area since the same only applies to municipal areas of Rajasthan. The order reads, “Commercial tourism activity shall not be permitted in the residential premises except those which have been sanctioned as per law. No commercial activities shall be allowed on the lands recorded as forest areas except with the consent of the forest officials in accordance with the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The ad interim stay order dated 8.12.2021 is confirmed and is made absolute subject to the above relaxations.” The decision was given after an advocate Rituraj Singh, filed a PIL, mentioning that as per the Rajasthan Tourism Policy, 2020, people can operate up to 20-room guest houses without the need for commercial conversion of their properties. As such, several hotels have come up within 1km from the boundaries of the protected area.
The court further stated, as per notification dated 31.3.2015, all new commercial and other construction activities shall be prohibited within 1 kilometre radius from the protected forest boundaries. In case, any construction activity is essential for repairs, maintenance, etc. within the said periphery, it shall be undertaken only after taking permission from the competent authority/monitoring committee.
Singh said, “A “monitoring committee” has been constituted, which is headed by Rajsamand collector and DFO and two persons from the civil society, who will be inducted by the collector. The committee will monitor the entire situation in relation to environmental issues of the Kumbhalgarh area.”
