Industry wants clearer land acquisition Bill

Industry has opposed the government idea of implementing the change in land acquisition norms on a retrospective basis. Also, it feels the absence of details in the (draft) Bill may trigger further litigation.

Industry associations, including the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), have given preliminary reactions to the government on the draft of the Land Acquisition Bill. They are expected to give the final feedback by the end of this month to the ministry of rural development.

The draft Bill says the new law would be implemented retrospectively. Ficci says it shouldn’t be. And, that “land applied for under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, should not be covered by this Act”.

The government is revising the draft to treat government and private parties on par when it comes to acquiring land. The last version of the draft Bill said only private parties seeking land needed to get the consent of 80 per cent of the people, while the government was exempted from it.

Ficci has said the “bill lacks detail in implementation and it is apprehended that it would lead to further litigation, as there are many grey areas”.

CII has favoured setting up of state land bank corporations, institutions dedicated for acquiring fallow, barren, unproductive and other land for industrial purposes. “The job of the State Land Bank Corporations would be to scientifically acquire large tracts of non-cultivable and other lands, develop these as land banks for the future and have a transparent mechanism to pass them on to the private sector,” CII said.

It also wants digitisation of land records and planned zoning of land. “Archaic and un-authentic land records are the biggest pitfalls and road blocks in land acquisition and disbursement of compensation,” it said.

According to estimates, industry utilises three to four per cent of all land in India. “Even when we are looking at increased contribution of industry in the country’s GDP to the level of 25 per cent, industry is expected to occupy around 15 per cent land only,” Ficci said. The chamber added that “it is possible to provide land for industry to this extent, provided an appropriate enabling framework is there”.

An independent regulator for monitoring land acquisition is yet another demand of the industry.