Govt may dilute Land Acquisition Act

Nitin Gadkari

The recent announcement by Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari in the lower house of Parliament has indicated that the new government is inclined to do certain modifications in the Land Acquisition Act, which got the assent from President of India last year to become a law.

The government’s move is necessitated due to wholesome opposition from states over certain clauses in the Act, which has become the reason for the inordinate delay in several infrastructure projects worth billions of rupees.

However, experts believe that while making amendments in the Act, the government may dilute certain 'landowners-friendly' clauses to expedite the acquisition process for major PPPs and government-funded projects across various states.

While addressing the Lok Sabha, the minister indicated government’s willingness to review certain provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, which was projected as one of the landmark laws brought out by the previous UPA regime. The Act has faced criticism from various quarters including states and stakeholders.

"We can review the Land Acquisition Act... if there is co-operation from your side,"

Gadkari said, adding that certain provisions could be re-considered.

While replying to the discussion on Demands for Grants for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Gadkari, who also holds that portfolio, however, emphasised that the whole effort (making changes) should not result in delaying the road projects.

To ally fear about the compromise in offering compensation to landowners or farmers, the Minister said, there would be no compromise on the compensation amount to be given to people displaced by land acquisition.

Recently, the Rural Development Ministry suggested a number of amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, which would water down pro-farmer provisions like mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent land owners for acquiring land for PPP projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private projects.

The Act enacted during the UPA government is likely to go undergo drastic changes if Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives nod for the Ministry's proposals, which also include dilution of a key clause of Social Impact Assessment study criticized by states as time consuming for industrialisation process.

"The Consent Clause should be re-examined as ownership of land vests with the Government in PPP projects. The consent clause should be removed from PPP

projects. Alternatively, consent requirement may be brought down to 50 per cent," the Ministry had said in its note sent to the PMO.

The Ministry's suggestions for drastic changes in the Act came after most of the states recently came out openly against the new Act, complaining that it had hurt the process of

acquiring land for infrastructure projects.

At a recent meeting of State Revenue Ministers chaired by Gadkari, the states including Congress-ruled Haryana objected to provisions for mandatory consent and Social Impact

Assessment study.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, which was earlier passed by both the houses of Parliament, was letter received the assent of the President to become a law.

The legislation was made to provide ‘just and fair’ compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land could be acquired forcibly.

The new Act replaced the archaic Act of 1894, which had various shortcomings including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by acquisition of land.