The UPA government has agreed to two more amendments that the BJP had asked for to make acquisition of irrigation land easier and cheaper under the ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012.’
The agreement came after a meeting between Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.
One amendment will do away with retrospective application of the law. Through the other, the State authority acquiring the land will be able to give either cash compensation or land in return for land acquired.
At present, under the Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha, the authorities are required to give only land for land acquired. After the amendments are passed in the Rajya Sabha, they will go back to the lower house once again for approval.
Incomplete acquisition
The government had earlier provided a clause to implement the law retrospectively for land parcels where acquisition procedures had begun under section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, but had not been completed.
An incomplete acquisition implies cases where the award under section 11 of the existing law has not been made; or where the award has been made five years before the passing of the new law and the physical possession of the land has not been taken; or where the compensation has not been accepted. In all such cases, the land acquisition would be made afresh under the new law. But now, under the new agreement, the government will make an exception to remove irrigation projects from the purview of these clauses.
The amendments will be moved by the government.