The anti-corruption campaigns that has brought politicians and businessmen under the scanner-especially their links with the builder community being exposed in recent scams-has got the real estate sector worried. A number of industry insiders and sleuths have confirmed that the flow of unaccounted money (or black money) in the system, a big source of funding for the sector facing funds crunch, will get disrupted. An unhealthy nexus between builders and politicians...

The Haryana assembly on Wednesday removed the limit on land ownership by a person or entity in case of non-agricultural land in urban and industrial zones. This comes after a recent Punjab and Haryana high court observation on "grave violations" of land ceiling laws by real estate companies, several of which own hundreds of acres of land. The assembly passed the Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2011, which is...

Land is the most important ingredient for the development of real estate and infrastructure. For quite some time now, land acquisition had become a contentious issue in the country, which has threatened not only the industrial development but also planned growth of cities in the country. In this backdrop, the central government's decision to introduce a land acquisition bill in the monsoon session of Parliament will go a long way...

Draft Bill on land acquisition pegs compensation on market value but how government agencies will reach this value remains a concern In response to farmers’ agitation in the last few years over faulty land acquisition and poor compensation—the Tata-Singur fiasco in West Bengal, Posco in Orissa or the recent farmers’ agitation in Noida—the ministry of rural development is planning to replace the archaic Land Acquisition Bill, 1894. It has come up...

The Noida-Greater Noida imbroglio will be instructive for the draft land acquisition bill In The Works...     * Government to acquire land, “public purpose” to be redefined     * Land acquisition only after getting written consent of 80 per cent of landowners     * Monitoring authority to be set up at the Centre and states to ensure compliance     * Payment component split into part-cash-down and remaining in annuity for 33 years     * Post...