Land Act draft rules by Sept 30, Jairam promises industry

Jairam Ramesh said these were in response to decades of injustice done to masses in the name of development

The draft rules of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act would be ready on September 30, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci),  Jairam Ramesh, who passionately defended the processes for land acquisition provided in the new law, said these were a response to decades of injustice done to masses in the name of development.

He, however, assured industry he would consult it in the making of the rules. Accepting a request from Ficci, he announced the setting up of a rules advisory committee, including members of the industry, to vet the draft rules and guidelines of the Act. He said comments would be invited for a whole month, after which the rules would be finalised.

Ramesh agreed with concerns that the procedures outlined in the Act would certainly raise the economic cost of land acquisition. But it is also true that it would lower the social and political cost considerably, he said.

He said in two decades, there would be no need for a land acquisition Act as acquisition, he hoped, would by then be replaced by purchase based on bilateral negotiations.

The minister said both the private sector and the government should stop acquisition of land by then, as that was the fairest way.

He said some of the concerns of industry were valid, that the procedures involved in acquisition would delay the process. But this would happen only if time lines mentioned in the Act were not kept. If time lines were kept, there would be no delays. He also clarified many points raised by industry. He said the retrospective clause in the Act pertained only to compensation and nothing else.

The minister also clarified that land could be taken possession of if the R & R (relief & rehabilitation) process is started. It does not have to be completed for land to be taken, he said.

R & R might take six to seven years, he said. Industrialists taking part in the interactive session pointed out concerns regarding the consent taking process. They said it would be next to impossible to get the consent of 80 per cent of land owners for a piece of land to be acquired by the government.

If consent was there, then it would have been purchased, pointed out a participant, underlining the irony of the Act which seeks to get land through consent from reluctant owners.

Another participant pointed out that payment of compensation that is four times the market value would multiply the price of the land available for purchase, and in turn, trigger higher compensation and lead to a vicious circle.