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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | I wasn't traceable: Land minister

I wasn't traceable: Land minister

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published Published on Jan 3, 2015   modified Modified on Jan 3, 2015
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Rural development minister Birender Singh today said he could not be traced on Wednesday when President Pranab Mukherjee asked the government to clarify the need for an ordinance to amend the land acquisition law, explaining why it was left to other ministers to justify an ordinance brought by his ministry.

The minister ruled out speculation that he was unhappy with the amendments being made to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act through the hurriedly-passed ordinance.

"If I am unhappy, I am not in the council of ministers. We have protected the interests of farmers. We have not diluted (the) compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement provisions," Singh, who joined the BJP in August from the Congress, told a news conference.

The minister, whose absence was conspicuous when finance minister Arun Jaitley went to meet the President accompanied by two other colleagues, said efforts were made to contact him.

"I was not traceable. Efforts were made to trace me. I could not be contacted. (The) President consulted other ministers. It is a joint responsibility," Singh said, without explaining why he could not be contacted.

Amid widespread criticism over the ordinance, which does away with social impact assessment for acquisition for five purposes, the minister said that all state governments had supported the amendments on the ground that the law was a stumbling block in acquisition of land for development projects.

The law, which was passed in 2013 and came into effect on January 1 last year, had a provision that land will be returned to the state land bank if unused for five years after acquisition. This provision has been amended. The words, "a period of five years", will be substituted by the words "a period specified for setting up of any project or for five years, whichever is later".

The law also had a provision saying it would apply with retrospective effect to such projects where no award had been made to land losers under the previous Land Acquisition Act of 1894 even though the acquisition process had started. The award is a legal document specifying the compensation and settlement of claims of the land losers.

The provision also said retrospective effect would apply to such projects where land acquisition had been started under the 1894 Act and award had been made five years or more prior to the commencement of the new law but physical possession had not been taken or compensation had not been paid.

The ordinance gives some exemption on this to acquisitions entangled in legal battles.

"Any period or periods during which the proceedings for acquisition of land were held up on account of any stay or injunction issued by any court or the period specified in the award of a tribunal for taking possession or such period where possession has been taken but the compensation lying deposited in a court or in any account maintained for this purpose shall be excluded," the ordinance says.

The land law also said the compensation and rehabilitation as prescribed under it would also be applicable to acquisitions under 13 other central laws. Those laws had to be amended within a year of the land law coming into force, on January 1, 2014, to align the compensation with it.

Since the one-year period would end on January 1, 2015, and not a single act was amended, the ordinance route was adopted to bring all 13 under the land law for the purpose of compensation as well as rehabilitation and resettlement, the minister said.

Asked why the government had not amended those 13 laws before December 2014, Singh said the ministry wasinformed about the required amendments only in October. It was not clear why the ministry was not aware of a requirement in its own law and who informed it in October.


The Telegraph, 3 January, 2014, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150103/jsp/nation/story_6514.jsp#.VKgX_XvxyBE


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