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Land Bill: Govt capitulates on social impact, consent clauses
-Business Standard

Ruling party MPs suggest changes to six of the nine amendments proposed by govt to the 2013 Act

The government is set to relent on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of a parliamentary joint committee on the Bill suggested amendments that effectively bring back the social impact assessment and consent clauses, hallmarks of the United Progressive Alliance government's 2013 Act.

Arguing that these clauses made the 2013 Act cumbersome, the government had excluded these from its land Bill ordinance, promulgated at the end of December 2014 and re-promulgated thrice after that. It had also brought a Bill to this effect in Parliament.

At a meeting of the 30-member joint select committee on Monday, all 11 ruling party MPs suggested changes to six of the nine amendments proposed by the government to the 2013 Act. The BJP, along with its allies, has 14 members in the committee, while Opposition parties have 16.

The committee's deliberations have seen BJP allies such as the Shiv Sena oppose the government's amendments to the 2013 Act.

Now, the joint committee members will vote on each clause of the Bill. The move by the panel's BJP members has paved the way for a more consensual report than expected earlier. The committee has sought two more days and will now submit a report on Friday.

The development will also facilitate states to come up with a more reformist land Bill, as discussed at a NITI Aayog meeting earlier this month.

The BJP's changed strategy on the Bill, a tactical move in view of the coming Bihar Assembly polls, will assuage not just the discontent within the party over the issue but also Sangh Parivar outfits, which have been opposed to deletion of the consent and social impact assessment clauses. Many in the party were wary of the Opposition's charge that the 2015 Bill was anti-farmer.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, all Sangh Parivar outfits, were opposed to the amendments. Of the 672 representations made before the panel, 670 opposed the amendments being brought by the government, especially changes in the norms pertaining to the consent and social impact assessment clauses.

The National Democratic Alliance government's Bill exempted five categories - defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors, and infrastructure projects, including public-private partnership (PPP) projects in which the central government owned land - from consent and social impact assessment. Also, the Bill allowed the government to exempt projects in these five categories from social impact assessment provisions and restrictions on the acquisition of irrigated multi-crop land and other agricultural land. Under the Act, irrigated multi-crop land couldn't be acquired beyond the limit specified by the government.

The BJP members also moved amendments for withdrawal of the terminology "private entity", stated as "private company" in the 2013 law.

Of the 15 amendments in the NDA Bill, nine were substantial in nature; these had been opposed by the Congress and other Opposition parties. Another point of contention was prosecution of officers; this is likely to be restored to the 2013 Act to ensure offending officers are prosecuted.

Also, there was disagreement on the amendment regarding industrial corridors, which allowed the government to further acquire a km of land on each side of designated railway lines or roads in the case of industrial corridors. This, too, had been dropped, sources said. The government can only acquire land for such projects if the ownership isn't transferred to a private company or a PPP entity. At its next few meetings, the joint committee will consider the remaining clauses, the most important being the return of land unutilised for five years. With the odds stacked heavily against it, the government is likely to concede to the Opposition's demand to water this down to two to three years.

Apart from the Shiv Sena, another ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, has persistently opposed the government's amendments at the NITI Aayog meeting. The Akali Dal, however, doesn't have any representation in the committee.

CONCEDING GROUND
 
The provisions of consent and social impact assessment under the land acquisition law will not apply to acquisition of land under the following laws even if the NDA withdraws its ordinance:

    The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958
    The Atomic Energy Act, 1962
    The Damodar Valley Corporation Act, 1948
    The Indian Tramways Act, 1886
    The Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885
    The Metro Railways Act, 1978
    The National Highways Act, 1956
    The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines Act, I962
    The Requisitioning and Acquisition of lmmovable Property Act, 1952
    The Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Act, 1948
    The Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act, 1957
    The Electricity Act, 2003
    The Railways Act, 1989

LAND ORDINANCE
 
The government can continue to acquire lands without consent and SIA for the following types of activities if the projects are not carried out in the PPP mode or by a private company
 
TRANSPORT

    Roads and bridges
    Ports
    Inland waterways
    Airports
    Railway tracks, tunnels, viaducts and bridges
    Urban public transport

ENERGY

    Electricity generation, transmission and distribution
    Oil pipelines
    Oil/Gas/LNG storage facilities
    Gas pipelines

WATER AND SANITATION

    Solid waste management
    Water supply pipelines
    Water treatment plants
    Sewage collection, treatment system
    Irrigation (dams, channels, embankments)
    Storm water drainage system
    Water harvesting and conservation

COMMUNICATION

    Telecommunication fixed network and towers

SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

    Education institutions
    Hospitals, medical colleges, diagnostic chains
    Three- star or higher-star hotels on the periphery of 1-million-plus cities
    Common infrastructure for industrial parks, SEZs, tourism facilities, agricultural markets
    Fertilisers
    Post-harvest infrastructure
    Terminal markets
    Soil testing laboratories
    Cold chains
    Projects involving agro-processing
    Marketing infrastructure for agriculture, dairy, fisheries and meat processing
    Projects for industrial corridors
    Mining activity
    National investment and manufacturing zones
    Projects for sports, health care, tourism, transportation or space programme
    Defence projects and installations