Government approved an ordinance to make amendments to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Let us have a look at the changes that have been proposed via the ordinance vis-a-vis the original Act.
| Amendments Brought in via Ordinance | What was the provision in the 2013 Act ? |
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The 2013 law required written consent from 70% of the affected land owners in case of their lands being acquired for PPP project. If the acquisition was meant for private companies, consent from 80% of the affected owners was required. Social Impact Assessment survey was to be held along with the process of getting the families’ consent. The original Act excluded private hospitals, private educational institutions and private hotels. |
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The time frame in the law was 5 years. |
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These Acts were listed in the Fourth Schedule of the existing Act. The Act mandated that a notification including these 13 exempt laws be laid before Parliament within an year. |
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Compensations were hiked up to four times and twice the market value in rural areas and urban areas, respectively. |
| 5. Eased the burden on defaulting civil servants – the ordinance says they can be prosecuted only after taking sanction from the government | Original Act had provisions to penalize. Where an offence under the Act has been committed by any department of the government, the head of department shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. |
| 6. Section 24 (2) amended that time spent under litigation will not be included in calculating the five-year period if a stay order had been passed leading to the acquisition being held up. Retrospective clause will not apply in case the delay is caused due to any stay or injunction by court. | The original Act says the retrospective clause will apply in cases where the land was acquired five years or more before the commencement of the new Act but no compensation has been paid or possession has not been taken, even if the acquisition got stuck due to litigation. |
Why the amendments ?
♦ To ease the process of acquiring land to meet the strategic developmental needs of the country. The ordinance will help to avoid the hassles and procedural difficulties in obtaining permissions for acquiring land. Industres were demanding the need of a simple and transparent acquisition framework. All this will be done without compromising on the compensation to be given to the farmers.
♦ To bring a large percentage of farmers and affected families under the purview of the earlier exempted 13 acts. They were denied higher compensation and resettlement and rehabilitation measures as per the 2013 Act.
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For Industries |
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For Farmers |
| Ordinance envisages projects in defence, rural housing and industrial corridors as exempt from seeking 80% approval from affected persons. | Farmers’ compensation will remain the same — four times the market rate for urban areas, and twice for rural areas. | |||
| Private hospitals, educational institutions and hotels will be included under definition of public purpose, and exempt from SIA. | 13 statutes that were previously exempted from the rigours of compensation have now been included. | |||
| The Ordinance aims to make land acquisition easier for industries, as delays in approvals have restricted growth in industry and infrastructure, according to stakeholders. | Multi-crop land can be acquired for five purposes without consent of affected families: national security, defence, rural infrastructure, industrial corridors and social infrastructure | |||
♦ The Land Act, 2013 required that within a year from the commencement of the Act the government may allow provisions of rehabilitation to apply even in acquisition under the 13 laws that were exempt, subject to Parliament’s approval. Since it was not possible in this session, the government found it necessary to resort to the ordinance route.
♦ The ordinance reflects the government’s intentness to push reforms.The litmus test will be in the budget session, when the ordinance has to be passed by both houses of parliament. Right now, it has only emblematic value.
What is the criticism ?
♦ Through the ordinance, the government has tried to dilute the original mandate of the act which was to transform the process of land acquisition into a “humane, participative, informed and transparent” process. Farmers and land owners interests have not been considered and the government has succumbed to the pressure of the corporates. By taking recourse to amendment, government is being criticized for undermining values of parliamentary democracy. According to Article 123, an ordinance is promulgated when the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, which does not appear to be the case here.
♦ The process of Social Impact Assessment was introduced with a purpose. It was meant to empower the landowners and gram sabha . Discretion had been replaced by verifiable systems and processes to check capricious decision-making. Now,with the amendments, it all rests on the profound wisdom of the Collector, what constitutes public purpose, and how soon the land can be acquired.
♦ Acquisition has been for the most part ,forceful by the state. It has always led to protests and riots. By seeking consent, the law empowered those who were directly affected by the acquisition. By waiving the clause for consent, this safeguard has been eroded.
♦ There was a demand to increase compensation value. The reason why farmers have not benefited is because of change in land use after acquisition. When the land is used for agriculture, it has a low value. The value of the land will be rather high if it will be used for infrastructure or industrial project. Farmers can get a fair deal by pricing the land after its end-use has been determined. Alternatively, compensation can be given fairly by giving the original land owners a significant equity stake in the developed property or a regular profit based on future values.
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