Notoriety of illegal de-notification hits settlement of genuine cases

With cases of illegal de-notification making news for all the wrong reasons, legal de-notification applications have been kept pending by the Revenue department.

Sources said that around 40 such applications, filed by landowners whose lands have either not been used for the purpose it was acquired or award (compensation) has not not been passed, are pending.

As per the new Land Acquisition Act (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acuqisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013), such landowners are even entitled to claim damages.

Documents available with DH show that in some cases, despite the Legislature Petitions Committee’s direction to give endorsement to the owners, the department has kept the files pending.

Section 11A of the Act states that the award (compensation), for the lands acquired, shall be made within a period of two years. If no award is made within that period, the entire proceedings for the acquisition of the land shall lapse, the Section specifies.

A senior official in the Revenue Department said that in most genuine cases, ‘notoriety’ of  illegal de-notification cases has been the reason for the pendency.

“De-notification is a legal procedure and when the state governments neither pass awards nor take possession of a certain area of land out of the total lands acquired, such lands will have to be dropped from acquisition. In most of the cases, there is no clearance to give endorsement to landowners that their lands have been dropped from acquisition,’’ he said.

For instance, Jay Mary, a 68-year-old applicant and a resident of Nagavara in Bengaluru, says she has been waiting for an endorsement for the past three years.

“I had fulfilled all the requirements under Section 24 (2) of the new Act. I am in physical possession of the land involved in these proceedings and no compensation has been paid. I had requested the Revenue Department to issue an endorsement to the effect that the acquisition of my land to an extent of 11.39 guntas at Nagavara village has lapsed,’’ she said.

The file was first sent to the Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru  Urban) and then the Law Department. Now, it is back in the Revenue Department. “I had filed an application with the Legislature Petitions Committee.

“The committee directed the department to issue an endorsement. However, my efforts have not yielded any result,’’ she said.