LAND ACQUISITION

BY,
ROYAL J. & AKSHAY K
 LAND ACQUISITION
Land acquisition in India refers to the process by which the union or a state government in India acquires private land for
the purpose of Industrialization, development of infrastructural facilities or urbanization of the private land, and provides
compensation to the affected land owners and their rehabilitation and resettlement.
Land acquisition in India is governed by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and which came into force from 1 January 2014. Till 2013, land acquisition in
India was governed by Land Acquisition Act of 1894. On 31 December 2014, the President of India promulgated an
ordinance with an official mandate to "meet the twin objectives of farmer welfare along with expeditiously meeting the
strategic and developmental needs of the country". An amendment bill was then introduced in Parliament to endorse the
Ordinance. Lok Sabha passed the bill but the same is still lying for passage by the Rajya Sabha. On 30 May 2015, President of
India promulgated the amendment ordinance for third time Union Government of India has also made and notified the Right
to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Social Impact Assessment and
Consent) Rules, 2014 under the Act to regulate the procedure. The land acquisition in Jammu and Kashmir is governed by the
Jammu and Kashmir Land Acquisition Act, 1934

Purpose
As per the Act, the union or state governments can acquire lands for its own use, hold and control, including for public sector
undertakings and for "public purpose", and shall include the following purposes:
For strategic purposes relating to naval, military, air force, and armed forces of the Union, including central paramilitary
forces or any work vital to national security or defense of India or State police, safety of the people
For infrastructure projects as defined under the Act
Project for project affected families
 Project for housing for such income groups, as may be specified from time to time by the appropriate Government
Project for planned development or the improvement of village sites or any site in the urban areas or provision of land
for residential purposes for the weaker sections in rural and urban areas
Project for residential purposes to the poor or landless or to persons residing in areas affected by natural calamities, or to
persons displaced or affected by reason of the implementation of any scheme undertaken by the Government, any local
authority or a corporation owned or controlled by the State.
The land can be acquired for private bodies for certain purposes:
For public private partnership projects, where the ownership of the land continues to vest with the Government, for
public purpose as defined in the Act
For private companies for public purpose.

Issues
Some of the important issues surrounding the Land Acquisition are discussed below. The major land acquisition and conflicts
happen in the densely populated areas of the countryside.
The Constitution of India originally provided the right to property (which includes land) under Articles 19 and 31. Article
19 guaranteed that all citizens have the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property. Article 31 stated that "no person
shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law." It also indicated that compensation would be paid to a person
whose property has been taken for public purposes (often subject to wide range of meaning). The Forty-Fourth Amendment
of 1978 deleted the right to property from the list of fundamental rights with an introduction of a new provision, Article
300-A, which provided that "no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law" (Constitution 44th
Amendment, w.e.f. 10.6.1979). The amendment ensured that the right to property is no more a fundamental right but
rather a constitutional/legal right/as a statutory right and in the event of breach, the remedy available to an aggrieved
person is through the High Court under Article 226 of the Indian Constitution and not the Supreme Court under Article 32
of the Constitution.
Monetary compensation
The compensation for the acquired land is based on the value of the agricultural land, however price increases have been
ignored. The land value would increase many times, which the current buyer would not benefit from. Secondly, if the prices
are left for the market to determine, the small peasants could never influence the big corporate tycoons. Also it is mostly
judiciary who has awarded higher compensation then bureaucracy.
Proposed amendments
The current Narendra Modi lead National Democratic Alliance (India) government driven Land Acquisition Amendment Bill
in the Lok Sabha on 10 March 2015 has seen a tough resistance from key position parties in India who have called the
proposed amendments "anti farmer" and "anti poor".
The proposed amendments remove requirements for approval from farmers to proceed with land acquisition under five
broad categories of projects. While the bill was passed in Lok Sabha, it still needs approval from the Rajya Sabha, where
the current government does not have a majority, for the proposed amendments to become effective.
The following are the main "disputation points"
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 defines
consent clause as "land can only be acquired with approval of the 70% of the land owners for PPP projects and 80% for
the private entities. But the proposed amendments by the Narendra Modi government does away with consent clause for
Industrial corridors, Public Private Partnership projects, Rural Infrastructure, Affordable housing and defense projects.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 says the
land unutilized for 5 years should be returned to the owner, but the amendment proposed by NDA government intends to
change to 5 years or any period specified at the time of setting up the project.
While the The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,
2013 allows private 26 companies to acquire land but the proposed amendment allows any private entity to acquire land.
According to the new amendment if any government official conducts any wrongdoing he or she cannot be prosecuted
without prior sanction from the government.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
mandated the social assessment before land acquisition but the NDA governments proposed bill does away with this
requirement.
Conclusion
A large number of suggestions from individual maintained that the farmer are not against land acquisition per say but
wanted some more changes in amendments
The governments and the party need to effectively communicate the need for amendments with the public.
Necessary to bring changes in the act, while safeguarding the interest of the farmers and affected families in cases of land
acquisition.
Procedural difficulties in SIA and consent were to be mitigated.
To bring more activities under the preview of exemption of consent.