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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ordinance to dilute land law

Ordinance to dilute land law

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published Published on Dec 28, 2014   modified Modified on Dec 28, 2014
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: Rural development minister Chaudhary Birender Singh today held a meeting with senior officials amid indications that the ministry is planning an ordinance to amend the year-old land acquisition law which industry has opposed.

Among those who attended the two-hour meeting was Vandana Kumari Jena, secretary, department of land resources.

Sources said the rural development ministry was under pressure from the finance and infrastructure ministries to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, which has made acquisition "tough".

Earlier this week, the cabinet had decided to revive an ordinance allowing auction of coal blocks affected by a Supreme Court order that had scrapped allotments because of a flawed allocation process. The cabinet also gave its nod to raise FDI in insurance through another ordinance.

An ordinance has to be ratified by both Houses of Parliament within six months of being promulgated.

Sources said the main provisions under consideration in the land act, which came into force on January 1, 2014, were the consent conditions that require 80 per cent of land-losers to give their assent in case of acquisitions for private industry and 70 per cent for public-private-partnership projects.

While industry has opposed this provision, state revenue ministers had called for amending it at a meeting in September. The sources said the consent provisions might be brought down to around 50 per cent for both private and PPP projects.

Another provision under consideration is the Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which the district administration has to carry out within six months of a project being envisaged. The sources said the six-month period may be reduced for the socio-economic assessment that takes into account the number of people who would be affected, their cultural link with the land being acquired and the total area required for the project.

The government may also water down the rehabilitation and resettlement provisions by excluding those dependent on the land being acquired. The law now provides for compensation for land-losers and rehab and resettlement of both land-losers and those dependent on the land.

According to the sources, the government may extend the five-year deadline for utilising the land taken over. The law now says land taken over will be returned to the state's land bank if it lies unused for five years.

The government may also respond to a demand to keep 13 other central laws out of the ambit of the acquisition act's rehab and compensation provisions.

According to the land act, its compensation and rehab provisions would apply even to plots acquired through these 13 laws, such as the Atomic Energy Act, Damodar Valley Corporation Act, Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, National Highways Act, Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act, Electricity Act and the Railways Act.

Some farmer groups have opposed the move to amend the acquisition law. Delhi Grameen Samaj chief R.S. Balhara, who met the rural development minister today, said villagers on Delhi's outskirts were unhappy with the plan to dilute the consent and SIA provisions. "If they amend the law through an ordinance, farmers would certainly be unhappy," Balhara said.


The Telegraph, 27 December, 2014, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141228/jsp/nation/story_19267182.jsp#.VJ_uK_8HAQg


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