A closer look to the Amendments of the Land Acquisition Law

The first enactment on land acquisition in India happened in 1824 made by the British government. After applying and enacting such laws in different parts of India, finally in 1857 the British government enacted a law which would apply to all the provinces of India. This again went through subsequent amendments and a law of land acquisition was framed in 1870. This law of land acquisition was finally replaced by the Land Acquisition Act 1894 and after independence of India this law was in force as the Indian Independence (Adaptation of Central Acts and Ordinances) order 1948 adopted this law. This law was in vogue till 1998 on which year the then government started amending the law by the Urban Ministry followed by subsequent amendments till 20013.

The NDA government led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi promulgated the ordinance for amendments for the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the LARR that is the Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Act 2013 on 31st December 2014. The government states that this act which has the basic structure of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 has become obsolete as it is 21st century now. It further states that the provisions of the act are not congenial for the development of the country or the economy in the 21st century. Otherwise the government argues that the government would be in a position to battle with the complicated procedure to acquire land which would impair development.

The government further states that the power to acquire land is a sovereign power and the state should be empowered with the power to acquire land for housing, urbanization, townships, infrastructure development, defense and many other purposes. The 2013 act proposed for a Social Impact Study and also provided the special provisions with regards to food security as well. But considering all these the NDA government is of the notion that these regulations do not cater to the requirements for the speed of development needed in the 21st century. In this regard the government states that in amending the law the compensation awarded should be according to the standards of the 21st century and not as per 1894 which in many cases are enacted. Simultaneously the government can’t ignore the needs of development of society and India at large.

For that reason this present amendment stipulates five exceptions for which this complicated sections of the Act of 2013 will not be applicable. The five exempted purposes are detailed below:

Source: The Hindu Business line

•  The security and Defence of India has been made an exempted purpose which the Act of 2013 ignored completely.

• Development of rural infrastructure is made to be an exempted purpose which includes roads, highways electrification and irrigation which the government proposes will add value to the farmer’s land. The government states that this is in the interests of the rural India.

• The housing for the poor and the economically backward class is an exempted purpose. The government proposes that as migration to urban areas is a common phenomenon in search of jobs, these population segments will benefit from such amendments.

• Development of industrial corridors is an exempted purpose which gives fillip to the entire development of the adjoining areas. The Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor is an example which would benefit thousands of villages along the national highway. The government argues that there is no better opportunity than the development of an industrial corridor which improves the value of the land itself and provides employment to many.

• Physical and social infrastructure projects which also include the Private Public Partnership (PPP) wherein the land ownership vests with the government is also an exempted purpose. The government advocates that this would certainly benefit the entire nation in its development as India still does not have adequate rural infrastructure.

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