Scrap Land Acquisition Act, it is a fraud: SC

Frowning at increasing incidents of government forcibly acquiring land for industrialisation and residential schemes, the Supreme Court on Thursday observed that the Land Acquisition Act ought to be scrapped, as it is a “fraud” devised by some “sick people”.

In a morale booster to the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, the apex court complimented it for its land acquisition policy since there are “no complaints of any forcible acquisition” whereas issues of farmers and poor being uprooted are pouring in from all other states.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu cautioned that if remedial measures are not initiated, then in another five years muscle men would take over the private land and utter chaos would prevail as the prices of land are shooting up everywhere.

“The Act has become a fraud. It seems to have been devised by people with a sick mind who have scant regard for the welfare of the common man,” Justice Singhvi, heading the bench, observed. The court made the observations while dealing with a bunch of petitions filed by aggrieved farmers from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district on the forcible acquisition of 82 acres of land by the state for developing a leather industry.

“We are coming across several cases of land being acquired in the name of emergency and public purpose. The poor farmer is being uprooted from his place and deprived of his only source of livelihood. But there is one state from where we do not receive any such complaints,” the bench said.