A group of concerned citizens has written to President Pranab Mukherjee to “rethink and reject” the Ordinance which seeks to amend the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.
In a letter to the President, the group has urged him to advise the government to table the proposed amendments in the forthcoming session of Parliament, so that these can be “democratically” discussed.
The group which includes former bureaucrats and judges, economists, and activists has said that LAA 2013 was enacted after much effort by various people's movements and political parties, to resolve the conflict due to forcible land acquisition, give farmers their due, and also meet the needs of industrial development, but now the Ordinance seeks to dilute the people-friendly provisions.
The group has expressed concern over the dilution of the need for consent and for conducting the Social Impact Assessment when acquiring land; alleging it become convenient for governments to easily force poor and marginalised people to part with their land and lose their livelihoods against their wishes, to facilitate PPP and private projects to establish themselves.
Pointing out that the current Ordinance seeks to bypass due and necessary legislative process, since the matter could and should have been discussed in Parliament, the group has said the government should have extended the session or by carrying the matter forward to forthcoming session(s).
“Since there is no emergent or extraordinary situation to justify it, the Ordinance route has been held by legally qualified eminent persons, as going against the spirit of the Constitution of India. From the newspaper reports we read your concerns for the same, but we feel that Government must be asked to not take this route as often and bring the matter to the floor of the Parliament,”the group says.
Among the signatories to the letter are Justice Rajindra Sachar, Harsh Mander (former member of National Advisory Council), Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Anand Patwardhan, Dr. V. Mohini Giri, former chairperson, National Commission of Women, former law minister Shanti Bhushan and Medha Patkar.
