Why ordinance needed
·
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency
in Land Acquisition and Resettlement & Rehabilitation Act, 2013 ( LARR Act) may have had its heart in the right place, but
is in reality too rigorous, making it difficult for land acquiring bodies, land acquiring authorities,
industrialists and farmers.
·
Under Section 105 of the Land Acquisition Act, clarity was needed
on what provisions apply to the aforesaid 13 legislations and it had to be done
before January 1, 2015.
·
It was necessary to give a message to investors that effort is
made to free up procedural bottlenecks
which are almost a hallmark of any infrastructure investment in India.
Removal of consent clause and Social Impact Assessment
·
The Ordinance seeks to amend Section 10(A) of the Act to expand
sectors where assessment and consent will not be required. For five sectors,
the consent clause has been removed. So the government or private
individuals/companies will no longer need mandatory 80% consent for land
acquisition in those five sectors.
·
the mandatory
"consent" clause and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) will not be
applicable if the land is acquired for national security, defence, rural
infrastructure including electrification, industrial corridors and housing for
the poor including PPP where ownership of land continues to be vested with the
government.
·
Rehabilitation and resettlement packages will be available as per
the new Land Acquisition Act.
'Pro-farmer step'
·
The ordinance seeks to promote
farmer’s interest by including 13 so far
excluded Acts under the new Land Acquisition Act. It is hailed as a pro-farmer
move as with this decision, rehabilitation, resettlement and compensation
provisions will be applicable for the 13 existing central pieces of legislations.
Till now land could be acquired under these Acts and there was no uniform
central policy of rehabilitation and resettlement.
·
These Acts include the Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and
Development Act 1957, the National Highways Act 1956, Land Acquisition (Mines)
Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act 1962, the Indian Tramways Act 1886, the
Railways Act 1989, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains
Act 1958, the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in
Land) Act 1962 and the Damodar Valley Corporation Act 1948. The Electricity Act
2003, Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act 1952, the
Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Act 1948 and the Metro
Railways (Construction of Works) Act 1978 are also brought under its purview to
provide higher compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to
farmers whose land is being acquired.
·
The compensation package remains the same i.e. as may be decided
by state government not exceeding four times the market price for rural and and
two times for urban land. Despite pressure from various groups the package has
been kept intact.
