Notify land use change before acquisition: FICCI

Objects to latest version of the Land Bill, which does not allow acquisition of land for private purposes

Industry body FICCI has sought notification of land use changes much in advance before any land acquisition as a means to reduce the losses to land owners.

Land is acquired by the government as an agricultural land at cheap rates and then resold to private companies, who then change the land use and resell it at several times the original price. This difference in prices has caused a lot of heart burn among those who had to give up their land in many states often leading to violent clashes.

FICCI has also objected to the latest version of the Land Bill, which does not allow acquisition of land when the purpose is private.

In case of large projects like steel, cement etc there is going to be a problem for the private sector in the last mile purchase, FICCI has said. In such cases, if the Government does not facilitate acquisition then in all possibility the projects may not take off. Hence, in those cases where 75% of the land has been purchased, the Bill could provide for acquisition by the private sector if requested by industry, it said.

However, the Bill that was finalised last week by a Group of Ministers led by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar rules out any acquisition of land by Government for private sector for any thing other than public purpose.

It has also sought re-examination of the provision that irrigated multi-cropped land can be acquired only under exceptional circumstances.

"This issue needs to be re-examined since states falling in Indo-Gangetic plains like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have significant portion of total land falling under irrigated agriculture land and they are also the most densely populated regions of the country. For instance, 84% land area in Punjab is agricultural land; in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana almost 80% area is agriculture land; and in Bihar 70% area falls under agriculture. By suggesting restrictions on the use of such land for industry, it would result in denying the people of these areas better opportunities by not participating in the industrial growth of the country," FICCI said. 

It has been proposed in the Bill that in all transactions where a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 has been issued but the award under Section 11 has not been made even after six months of the commencement of this Act, the notification under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 shall be deemed to have lapsed, FICCI said. FICCI says that the period may be extended to two years.

According to Sharad Pawar, the issue of whether the Act would have retrospective effect would be decided by the state governments.

FICCI has also objected to applying rehabilitation and resettlement provisions for private purchase transactions (not acquisition).

We understand that the Bill seeks to provide R&R to affected families even for private purchase of land above a particular size to be fixed by State governments. Land prices determined by market forces and agreed between the buyer and seller must be kept outside the R&R provisions, FICCI said.

FICCI has also objected to providing any option of annuity policies for affected families. If annuity policies are kept as an option for the affected families in land acquisition deals, then industry would be bound by such commitments for 20 years, which would be difficult to administer, FICCI said.