All you need to know about the latest development on land Bill

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says political considerations" over the Bill should not be allowed to impact rural development

Ahead of the Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reached out to parties, appealing them not to come in the way of prosperity of farmers and saying the deadlock over the land acquisition Bill was seriously impacting rural development. With the Bill stalled by political differences with the Opposition, the Centre might change tack and get states to enact their own land legislation, enabling itself to push along the economic reform process.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the states that wanted speedy development could take the lead in framing such laws, with the Centre's backing, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “political considerations” over the Bill should not be allowed to impact rural development.

Here are answers to some of the legal questions related to the land acquisition saga.

Q) Who has the right to make laws on land acquisition?

Ans: According to the Constitution, ‘land acquisition’ is in the concurrent list, which means both the centre and the state governments have the right to make laws on how to acquire land and issues related to it, like compensation, etc. Article 254

(2) of the constitution says that any state law which has received the assent of the President will be valid and will continue to stay in force even if it contradicts a central law. As the President consults the Union government on all issues, if the union approves of a state law, it will stay valid.

Q) If that is the case, why was the centre trying to impose the central law on the states?

Ans:It is possible that the government believed that in matters relating to land acquisition there should be one uniform law across India. 

Q) So what will be in force now? The 2013 law on acquisition?  or the ordinance which superseded it? And where do the states stand?

Ans: The last United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government passed a law. In order to make it more industry friendly, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government decided to amend it via and ordinance and later, as a bill. The ordinance is still in force. Until it lapses – that is the government fails or decides not to repromulgate it – it will have legal validity. It is not clear whether the government wants to keep it in force or let it lapse. If it lapses, naturally the 2013 law will be in force. In the meantime, all actions taken under the ordinance have full legal validity. 
 

As far as the states are concerned, they are free to pass their own laws relating to acquiring private property for roads, highways or anything else they think fit.
 

If some states still go by the 1894 law to acquire private property, that will continue to be in force; If others have adopted the 2013 law, that will be in force. 
 

The thinking behind the government’s latest move might be to induce competition among the states to make laws investor friendly, making it easier for investors to acquire land. We have to see how that plays out.
 

In the meantime, if the National Highways Authority of India, for example wants to acquire land for a highway or a hydel project, it will have to pay compensation and conduct Social Impact Assessment (SIA) according to the procedures and terms described in the Ordinance. On the other hand, if a state government wants to acquire private land for a state highway, it will pay compensation according to the terms of the law prevailing in the state.