Modified version of Land Bill okayed

The government on Thursday approved the Land Acquisition Bill, which mandated consent of 80 per cent of landowners if plots were acquired for private projects and 70 per cent of the landowners in case of public-private partnership projects.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the modified version of the Bill, which the government is likely to re-introduce in the Winter Session of Parliament.

A Group of Ministers headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had earlier studied Land Acquisition Bill and suggested that consent of 67 per cent of the landowners was sufficient for acquisition of land for both private and PPP projects. After Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi intervened, the Ministry of Rural Development proposed to retain the provision of seeking consent of 80 per cent of the landowners for private projects and 70 per cent of the landowners for PPP projects.

The National Advisory Council played a significant role in conceptualising the Bill. NAC member Naresh Saxena on Thursday told a TV channel that the modified version of the Bill was “both anti-farmer and anti-industry” as it did not seek to put in place a mechanism for speedy decision on acquisition and disbursement of compensation and limited the compensation to just twice the market value. The Cabinet also decided to retain a controversial clause in the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which debars judges from commenting against any constitutional authority in open courts. The Bill is with  the Rajya Sabha.

The government, however, decided to reconsider the clause following critical reactions. Although it retained the controversial clause, the Cabinet made changes so that it did not contravene Article 14, which deals with equality before the law.