Land Acquisition Act, 1894
TNN, Mar 12, 2011, 12.44am IST
Formulated during the British Raj, the Act allows the government to forcibly acquire land from private landholders for projects of public purpose. Quite often governments are accused of acquiring land for private firms leading to protests and agitation all over the country over displacement and compensation.
Several efforts were made in the past to amend the Act in the favour of land-owners. Some clauses were changed but could not bring the desired relief to the poor farmers and people who were displaced due to acquisition. The NDA regime, in 2003, brought a Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill but, it lapsed. Another Bill brought by the UPA government in 2007 met the same fate. A revised version of the 2007 Bill was re-introduced in 2010, which is still pending.
There are differences among the UPA allies over amendment. The Trinamool Congress wants that government's absolute power to acquire land must be scrapped. The Bill redefines 'public purpose' as land acquired for defence purposes, infrastructure projects, or for any project useful to the general public, where 70 per cent of the land has already been purchased. The Bill bars acquisition for companies, except under the 70 per cent condition.
The Bill also proposes that a social impact assessment study must be conducted for acquisition resulting in large-scale displacement. Acquisition costs will include payment for loss or damages to land, and costs related to resettlement of displaced residents. The Bill proposes the Land Acquisition Compensation Disputes Settlement Authority at the state and Central levels to adjudicate disputes resulting from land acquisition proceedings.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Ajit Singh has also introduced a `private bill' in the Parliament for amendment in the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. It proposes a complete ban on acquisition of land for profit-making and commercial purposes. The acquisition for industry should be allowed only if necessary for national security. The companies wanting land for their ventures should be allowed to deal directly with the farmers.
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