Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday agreed to look into an oral request from the Centre to set up a Constitution Bench for expeditious disposal of issues relating to amendments in the Land Acquisition Act.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made an oral mention before the Chief Justice court.
Last year, the court issued notice to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand on the amendments to their States’ land acquisition laws to the extent that consent of farmers or land owners was not required before their land was acquired for projects like industrial corridors, expressways, highways, etc.
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Petitioners like activist Medha Patkar, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, had said the States allowed land acquisitions without social impact assessment, participation of representative local bodies in social impact assessment study, expert appraisal processes, public hearing, objections.
The petitions alleged that the amendments violate the “core spirit” of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013.
The 2013 Act mandates that 70% of the affected land owners should consent to the acquisition of land for a public private participation (PPP) project. The 2013 Act had uprooted its colonial predecessor of the year 1894 and was intended to uphold the farmers’ right to dignity and life to include the right to be not unnecessarily displaced.
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The States’ amendments have caused a huge uproar in the agrarian community with farmers from Tamil Nadu leading protests which have gained national attention. Gujarat was the first State to amend land acquisition law.