Govt looking at ordinance route for bringing changes to Land Act

With elections in Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir almost over, the Government is likely to consider an ordinance to bring changes in the Land Acquisition Act.

Government sources said amendments are likely to include toning down the consent process and removing the mandatory preparation of Social Impact Assessment Study, besides expansion of the exemption list in the existing Act. This is being done to make it more industry friendly.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held a meeting on Monday with the Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh on the proposed changes.

While little was known on what transpired in the meeting, sources said that there will be no changes in compensation packages, but only in procedures.

Recently, the Finance Minister had said that he had no issues on the higher compensation proposed by the Law Ministry.

Rather, what he needs to deal with is the provision that disallows setting up of private schools, hospitals and hotels on land acquired by the Government.

Such a provision would make it difficult to build smart cities.

The amendments are based on suggestions given by the industry and the States.

The Act, known as ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act’ and passed during the UPA Government last year, came into effect from January 1 this year.

The changes are also critical for the success of the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ programme.

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