Land Bill: Government likely to withdraw all the amendments?

Retaining the consent and social impact assessment (SIA) clauses will make the Modi government’s Land Bill similar to UPA’s Land Acquisition Act of 2013.

The sources said that members of ruling National Democratic Alliance moved amendments at the Monday’s meeting of the joint committee on land bill, seeking to bring back the consent clause and SIA. Even representatives from the Sangh Parivar-linked organisations were in favour of going back to the Congress bill of 2013 that was passed unanimously by all parties including the BJP.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament is sitting on a pile of unfinished legislation, including the passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill, Land Bill, Real Estate Regulator Bill, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, among others.

This retreat came at the meeting of the joint select committee chaired by BJP member S S Ahluwalia after the ruling party found itself deserted by its allies like the Shiv Sena and opposed by regional players like the Biju Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the AIADMK.

After struggling for months to get Parliamentary approval for its Land Acquisition Bill 2015 re-issued a few times as an ordinance, the government has agreed to withdraw all the contentious clauses in it, including those related to consent and social impact assessment.

The Union Cabinet may take a view on the report before moving the bill once more in the Lok Sabha.

Apart from the Congress that had wanted restoration of the UPA’s 2013 Act, the Left parties, the SP, the JD(U), the BSP, and the BJD were also opposing the amendments tooth and nail.

At a recent Niti Aayog meeting, the NDA-ruled states had said they were keen to have their own land laws to facilitate growth if the Opposition delayed the central law. “Lets us wait for their report”, he said.

Tomorrow, the panel will discuss the bill’s provision to extend the deadline for return of unutilised land to any length of time specified in the project proposal.

The 2013 Act stated the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 will continue to apply in certain cases, where an award has been made under the 1894 Act but if such an award was made five years or more before the enactment of 2013 law and physical possession of land has not been taken or compensation has not been paid, the new law will apply.

Out of these nine six including the provisions dealing with consent clause, social impact assessment, replacing the term private company with private entity were discussed today and a consensus has emerged on them, Congress members claimed. It had also sought restoration of the consent of 80 per cent of land owners to be obtained for private projects and that of 70 per cent for PPP ones.

In the 2013 Act, SIA was to be conducted to identify affected families and calculate the social impact on people when a particular piece of land is acquired.