LAND ACQUISITION BILL: SALIENT FEATURES

The LAND INVESTMENT IN INDIA, our country is currently under the big cloud of Land Acquisition Bill. Although not all of land owners are affected by it, but then it is the duty of LAND INVESTMENT COMPANY like us – AAMANI SPACES that we keep you up to date with the going- ons. In this series find the features of the bill, with each aspect covered in detail, so this will be in series of 3 blogs. Stay connected.

 

When does the ACT apply:

         This act will apply only when a private project developer acquires or purchases land more than 100 acres in rural areas or 50 acres in urban areas through a private negotiation with the landowner, or when a private project developer asks the government to acquire land on his/her/their behalf. 

So if a private project developer wants to escape this clause, he/she will takeland in multiple parcels instead of one-time acquisition, which helps him or her escape the application of this Act.

Also, if land has been acquired under sixteen previous acts, this act will not apply. These include SEZ Act (2005), Atomic Energy Act, Cantonments Act, Damodar Valley Corporation Act, Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, National Highways Act, Electricity Act and many others. This list is under 4th Schedule of this bill, and other acts can be added to this bill with just a Central govt. notification. 

·         Requirement of consent:

In the original Land Acquisition Act (1894), there was no requirement of any consent from the original landowner in acquiring his/her land. But as per this bill, consent of 70% of the landowners is required prior to acquiring land for a "public-private partnership" project, while consent of 80% of the landowners is required prior to acquiring land for a "private" project.

 Land can be acquired for "public purpose" only, where public purpose refers to a number of development projects: mining, infrastructure, defence, roads, railways, ports etc.

 This is an improvement upon the original act, since if the majority of the landowners do not agree to the project to be established on their land, a majority of them can unite and oppose the project by not giving their consent.  The other big achievement is that the definition of "public purpose" is much clearer and is related to development unlike in the past, where the government could acquire land on any pretext while terming it "public purpose". 

 There are some major lacunae even in the kind of provisions put up. For one, a large amount of land is acquired even today by public sector units like NTPC, BHEL or others. Yet, no public consent is required by public sector units in acquiring land, be it for mining, for power projects, for highway building or for any other purpose.

In the next part see other salient features like the notice period, compensation,  rehabilitation and resettlement etc. An understanding of the topic of the ACT will make sure that you will never be bogged down by the doubts and dilemmas about any of it. AAMANI SPACES a big name in the DHOLERA SMART CITY DEVLOPMENT is in the constant process of making the mass aware about the land acquiring and owning properties.

Please feel free to contact us on