Land reforms bill sent to President for approval

The amended land reforms bill which facilitates the grant of ownership to agricultural labourers in respect of the houses built on land not belonging to them has been referred to the President for his assent.

Sources in the law department said the bill, after being passed in the state legislature, was forwarded to the governor for his assent. The governor ‘reserved’ his opinion. The bill was forwarded to the President on May 31.

The amended bill was passed by a voice vote with all parties supporting the measure, in the Assembly in March. Recently, 10 MLAs barged into Speaker K B Koliwad’s office and questioned as to why the bill had not become law.

They blamed the officers for holding back the bill and not sending it to Raj Bhavan.

A law department officer had explained to Koliwad that the bill may have to get the President’s assent as it involved giving compensation to land owners who have to give up the houses to agricultural labourers. Hence, there was delay in forwarding it to the governor. But the MLAs had argued that there should have been no delay in sending it to the governor.