Land ordinance on track

The land bill passed by the Lok Sabha and pending before the Rajya Sabha has no chance of being cleared before April 5.

March 31, 2015 09:44 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 05:30 pm IST - New Delhi

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday discussed re-promulgation of the Land Acquisition Ordinance but refrained from making an official announcement on the decision taken.

Senior Cabinet sources told The Hindu that the government is determined to re-issue the ordinance in its changed form following amendments to the Bill introduced in the Lower House.

A senior government source emphasised that the “process to promulgate an ordinance that will include the amendments passed by the Lok Sabha is under way.’’

“Constitutional process will take its course,’’ a senior minister said after the Cabinet meeting.

The Rajya Sabha has been prorogued by President Pranab Mukherjee, setting in motion the process for re-promulgation of the ordinance which will lapse by April 5.

A new ordinance will have to be issued before Parliament re-convenes after recess on April 20.

Getting the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA is in a minority, has become a challenge for the government. In the Lower House, the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), DMK and the Left parties had joined hands to block the Bill when it came up for passage. They are demanding that the provisions for consent before acquisition and social impact assessment be re-introduced in the Bill.

The Congress is demanding that the NDA drop its amendments to the UPA’s 2013 Act and retain the previous legislation.

Here are the six important facts you need to know about the Land Bill. Source: prsindia.org

1 The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 seeks to Amend the Act of 2013 (LARR Act, 2013).
2 The Bill creates five special categories of land use: 1. defence, 2. rural infrastructure, 3. affordable housing, 4. industrial corridors, and 5. infrastructure projects including Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects where the central government owns the land
3 The Bill exempts the five categories from provisions of the LARR Act, 2013 which requires the consent of 80 per cent of land ownersto be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent of land owners for PPP projects.
4 The Bill allows exemption for projects in these five categories from requiring Social Impact Assessment be done to identify those affected and from the restrictions on the acquisition of irrigated multi-cropped land imposed by LARR Act 2013.
5 The Bill brings provisions for compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement under other related Acts such as the National Highways Act and the Railways Act in consonance with the LARR Act.
6 The Bill changes acquisition of land for private companies mentioned in LARR Act, 2013 to acquisition for ‘private entities’. A private entity could include companies, corporations and nonprofit organisations.

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