3Declaration of controlled area

(1) The Chief Commissioner may, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare any land adjacent to and within a distance of four hundred and forty yards from the centre line of any road to be a controlled area for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Not less than three months before making a declaration under sub-section (1) the Chief Commissioner shall cause to be published in the Official Gazette and in at least two newspapers printed in a language other than English a notification stating that he proposes, with the previous sanction of the Central Government, to make such a declaration and specifying therein the boundaries of the land in respect of which the declaration is proposed to be made, and copies of every such notification or of the substance thereof shall be published by the Deputy Commissioner in such manner as he thinks fit at his office and in every revenue estate of which any part is included within the said boundaries.

(3) Any person interested in any land included within the said boundaries may, at any time before the expiration of thirty days from the last date on which a copy of such notification is published by the Deputy Commissioner, object to the making of the declaration or to the inclusion of his land or any part of it within the said boundaries.

(4) Every objection under sub-section (3) shall be made to the Deputy Commissioner in writing, and the Deputy Commissioner shall give to every person so objecting an opportunity of being heard either in person or by pleader, and shall after all such objections have been heard and after such further enquiry, if any, as he thinks necessary, forward to the Chief Commissioner the record of the proceedings held by him together with a report setting forth his recommendations on the objections.

(5) If before the expiration of the time allowed by sub-section (3) for the filing of objections no objection has been made, the Chief Commissioner may proceed at once to the making of a declaration under sub-section (1). If any such objections have been made, the Chief Commissioner shall consider the record and the report referred to in sub-section (4) and shall hear any parties applying to be heard and may either--

(a) abandon the proposal to make a declaration under sub-section (1), or

(b) make such a declaration in respect of either the whole or a part or parts of the land included within the boundaries specified in the notification under sub-section (2).

(6) For the purposes of sub-section (3) a person shall be deemed to be interested in land if he is "person interested" as defined in clause (b) of section 3 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), for the purposes of that Act or, where the land is land occupied by or for the purposes of a mosque, imambara, dargah, karbala, takya or Muslim graveyard, if he is a Muslim.

(7) A declaration made under sub-section (1) shall, unless and until it is withdrawn, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the area to which it relates is a controlled area.