New Delhi: The historic Land Acquisition Bill on Wednesday moved another step closer to becoming a law with Rajya Sabha approving the legislation which seeks to provide fair and just compensation to farmers and to those who lose livelihood on account of acquisition.
The new law will apply to all Special Economic Zones to be set up from now onwards, the government said while rejecting apprehensions over it, saying states were free to improve upon it by even raising the requirement of consent from 80 per cent to 100 per cent.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012, which got the nod of Lok Sabha last week, was passed by the Upper House by 131-10 votes with four new official amendments, proposed by opposition parties, including BJP.
The bill will go back to Lok Sabha for approval of the new amendments, which include dilution of retrospective clause with regard to acquisition of land for irrigation projects.
The bill, which will replace over a century-old law, stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.
It proposes compensation upto four times the market value in rural areas and two times the market value in urban areas.
Replying to a six-hour debate, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh sought to address the concerns over the 'urgency clause' in the bill, saying it is for use only in case of natural calamities and national security and cannot be invoked in case of land acquisition for private parties.
Compensation in this case will be higher, he said. Ramesh the government would not like multi-crop land to be acquired to the extent possible but it has been left to the states to decide the ceiling in this regard.
Responding to a host of issues raised by members and concerns expressed, he promised to accommodate the maximum possible the suggestions in the rules to be notified for the new law.
At the same time, he said the new law may be amended after three-four years if the next government wishes. "I don't think there is any room for amending this law," he said.
Giving details about the bill pushed by Rahul Gandhi, the Rural Development Minister said the new law provides for compensation not only to the farmers but also to the landless people who may lose their livelihood.
There is a separate clause for dalits and tribals, he said about the law which will replace the Act of 1894. He underlined that under the earlier law, land could be acquired after 'consulting' Gram Sabhas while the new legislation provides for 'consent' of Gram Sabhas.
Ramesh made it clear that there will be no forcible acquisition under the law. After 20 years of enactment of the new law, the government will not required to acquire land, which is not the case now.
"This is the first time that legal validity has been given to rehabilitation and resettlement," he said. The law provides for monitoring mechanisms at the central and state levels which will also address complaints, if any. Disputes will have to be settled in a time-bound manner.
Government moved as official amendment BJP's suggestions that retrospective and social impact assessment clauses should not be applied for acquisition of land for ongoing irrigation projects.
Government also moved the amendment to specify that either compensation or rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) will be given to farmers whose land is acquired for irrigation projects.
However, farmers, whose land is acquired for other projects, will get the benefits of both compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement.
As some of the members raised the issue of federal rights of the states, Ramesh said, "We are not interfering with the rights of the states. Land acquisition is a concurrent subject. We have fully protected the rights of the states, we are not making any interefernce as far as private acquisition is concerned."
He said the states have been given 'full flexibility' to improve on the legislation.
Responding to members' concerns that there are 13 different laws relating to land acquisition and other clauses in the bill to which the compensation and rules prescribed in the current law are not applicable, the Minister assured them that the compensation rules in all 13 laws will be changed according to the provisions of the land bill within one year.
"Within one year, these laws will be changed," he said adding that as of today, it is impossible to incorporate all of them in the Act. The Bill will replace the archaic Act of 1894 which suffers from various shortcomings including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced by the acquisition of land.
The bill proposes benefits such as land for land, housing, employment and annuities that shall accrue in addition to the one-time cash payments for those whose land is acquired.
To address historical injustice, the bill applies retrospectively to cases where no land acquisition award has been made.
No land can be acquired in Scheduled Areas without the consent of the Gram Sabhas and no one shall be dispossessed until and unless all payments are made and alternative sites for the resettlement and rehabilitation have been prepared.
The bill proposes compensation to those who are dependent on the land being acquired for their livelihood.
To safeguard food security and to prevent arbitrary acquisition, the bill directs states to impose limits on the area under agricultural cultivation that can be acquired.
Sharing concern expressed by members that people whose land has been acquired in mining areas have not got compensation even after 30 years, Ramesh said 'this is wrong'. He said such problems were the reasons for growth of Naxalism. However, he pleaded he was not Coal Minister and hence could not be held responsible, evoking laughter in the House.
Definition of market value has been amended to ensure that the acquisition price doesn't form the basis for compensation calculation in future acquisitions. Also, power has been given to the Collector not to consider transactions which he feels are outliers and not indicative of true value while calculating market value.
"Earlier there was a danger of a price-spiral as (a multiple of) price of first acquisition in an area would go into calculation of land price for any subsequent acquisitions," the Bill states.
In case land remains unutilised after acquisition, the new bill empowers states to return the land either to the owner or give it to the State Land Bank. No income tax shall be levied and no stamp duty shall be charged on any amount that accrues to an individual as a result of the provisions of the new law.
Where acquired land is sold to a third party for a higher price, then 40 per cent of the appreciated land value (or profit) will be shared with the original owners.
In every project, those losing land and belonging to the SC or ST will be provided land equivalent to land acquired or two and a one-half acres, whichever is lower (this is higher than in the case of non-SC/ST affected families) Where the affected families belonging to the SC and the ST are relocated outside of the district, then they shall be paid an additional twenty-five per cent rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to which they are entitled to in monetary terms along with a one-time entitlement of Rs 50,000.