Land Bill panel: Members oppose submission by pvt firm MD

Say private individuals cannot be allowed to push their 'agenda' before the parliamentary panel

Members from Opposition parties on Tuesday expressed reservations over the representative of a private firm being allowed to make a submission before the Joint Committee of Parliament that is going into the contentious land acquisition Bill.

As it met for the fifth day to hear the views of stakeholders, some of the Opposition party members strongly objected to the panel calling “private individuals with their own agenda” for the meeting, sources said.

One of the members questioned why they should listen to views of people with “vested interests”, saying that the particular company had interest in building construction activities, the sources added.

Members said they have no objection to individuals appearing before the Parliamentary panel who represent credible organisations, but private individuals cannot be allowed to push their “agenda”.

The Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015, headed by SS Ahluwalia today called representatives from organisations like Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan, Sree Samayaa, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, PRS Legislative Research and an individual Dhanush Kumar.

Two young law students Aditya Manubarwala and Shardool Kulkarni also submitted their views before the panel.

While the first two submissions went on normally, members objected when the Managing Director of Sree Samayaa, a private limited company from Mumbai, began expressing his views in favour of the contentious Bill.

The MD of Sree Samayaa was cut short by with Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left and BJD members being the ones who opposed him.

The opposition members also wanted the government to spell out its stand on the land Bill issue since the matter has now been referred to a parliamentary panel. They asked Ahluwalia to find out what the government's view is on the matter now.