The Union Cabinet on Monday cleared the draft Land Acquisition Bill without any modifications.
The Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament on September 7, after which it may go to the Standing Committee.
The Bill comes at a time when most States are grappling with agitations on the issue of land acquisition.
“The Cabinet has approved the draft Bill,” the Rural Development Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting. But sources said some changes have been made from the original draft put on the PIB's Web site on July 27.
Once the Bill becomes an Act, the proposals will be implemented with retrospective effect in case the award has not been made in Land Acquisition Act, 1894 or possession has not been taken.
The draft was put in the public domain a month ago for inviting comments.
If the law comes into force, the Government will not acquire land for private companies for private purposes.
COMPENSATION
Also, once a public purpose is stated by a private company for buying land, it cannot be changed. And if the land is not used in five years for the stated purpose, it should be returned to the original owner. The Government will also steer clear of acquiring multi-cropped irrigated land. At present, most of such land is in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Bihar and poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011 includes a comprehensive compensation policy for land-owners and livelihood losers, including the landless, particularly the Scheduled Tribes.
For urban areas, it proposes an amount not less that twice the market rate. In rural areas, the amount should be not less than four times the original market value.
“The draft Bill seeks to balance the need for facilitating land acquisition for various public purposes including infrastructure development, industrialisation and urbanisation, while at the same time meaningfully addressing the concerns of farmers and those whose livelihoods are dependent on the land being acquired,” Mr Ramesh had said in his introduction to the draft.
He had said the Bill would enjoy primacy over specialised pieces of legislation such as for highways, Special Economic Zones, Defence and Railways.
CONSENT FACTOR
To safeguard livelihood, the Bill proposes that the consent of 80 per cent of the affected families be made mandatory if the Government acquires land for use by private firms for public purpose or public-private partnerships, other than that for national highways.
It, however, authorises the Government to invoke an “urgency clause” to acquire land for national defence and security purposes, R&R needs in the event of emergencies or natural calamities, and in “rarest of rare” cases.