6/23/2014 Guard against hasty revision - The Hindu

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Opinion Editorial
Published: June 23, 2014 00:27 IST | Updated: June 23, 2014 00:27 IST
Guard against hasty revision
It is only about six months since the new land acquisition Act came into force, but demands to dilute it have already
started coming in. The State governments and industry representatives, probably perceiving the newly elected
Bharatiya Janata Party government as industry-friendly, have pressed for a revision. They want easy and inexpensive
land acquisition norms. Are demands for changing the compensation and consent provisions reasonable? The answer
is an unambiguous no. For more than a century, various government agencies have used the archaic Land Acquisition
Act 1894 to acquire property compulsorily. On many occasions, governments have even taken advantage of the
ambiguous definition of public purpose, which is critical to justify compulsory acquisition of land, and pursued
contentious acquisition procedures. Since 1998, attempts have been made to change the Act, but nothing much had
come of them. Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development had in three instances reviewed
the proposals for revising the Act and consulted various stakeholders. Finally, after an inordinate delay, the previous
United Progressive Alliance government repealed the Act and passed a new one in September 2013. The new law, the
Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, came into
force in January 2014.
The new legislation is a vast improvement over the previous one. It has enhanced compensation, insisted that
governments should obtain consent from at least 80 per cent of the project-affected families, streamlined procedures
and mandated social impact assessment. Equally important, it seeks to ensure the compulsory rehabilitation of
affected families. As a result, land acquisition has become relatively fair, and not impractical as detractors often
complain. Many overlook the fact that the new Act in itself represents a dilution of some of the early proposals. For
instance, the previous government first proposed to fix the compensation amount for property acquired in rural areas
at six times the market value, but later reduced it to three. It has lifted the prohibition on acquiring irrigated multi-
crop areas and overlooked contentious aspects of acquiring land to be given to private companies for industrial and
housing development. Attempts to reduce transparency, deny stakeholder participation and impose unjust
compensation cannot pass for efforts to reduce anomalies and improve the efficiency of the acquisition process. The
BJP government should focus on working with the new Act which was legislated after a long delay and debate, and not
amend it in haste. The government can review the legislation after it has been in force for a reasonable period, and
after studying its impact carefully.
Keywords: Land acquisition Act, land acquisition, State governments, amendments in Land Acquisition Act
Printable version | Jun 23, 2014 4:45:43 PM |
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/guard-against-hasty-revision/article6139255.ece
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