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The Land Acquisition Act in
India
The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is a legal Act in India which allows
the Government of India to acquire any land in the country. As per
Constitution of India land belongs to some individual or group of individuals
have legal rights to own the land. These individuals are free to use their land according to their will or to
sale their land for monetary or other advantages. However, at times land is needed for some community purpose,
like roads, canals, government offices, military camps, SEZ, etc. Government can acquire the individuals land.
Land Acquisition literally means acquiring of land for some public
purpose by government/government agency as authorised by the law from the individual landowner (s) after paying some compensation in lieu of
losses occurred to land owner(s) due to surrendering of his/their land to the concerned government agency.
Acquisition of land by the government for public purpose or for the companies is governed by the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
Appropriate Government would mean the Central Government if the
purpose for acquisition is for the Union and for other purpose it is the
State Government. It is not necessary that all the acquisition has to be
initiated by the government alone. Local authorities, societies registered under the Societies
Registration Act, 1860 and Co-Operative Societies established under the Co-operative Societies Act can also
acquire the land for developmental activities through the government.
History of Land Acquisition Act
In India in 1824 British government for the first time enacted
regulation I of 1824(for land acquisition).its application was throughout the whole of the Bengal provinces immediately subject to the
presidency of fort William. The rules empowered the government to acquire immovable property at a
fair and reasonable price for construction of roads, canals or other public purpose. In 1850 some of the provisions of regulation I of 1824
were extended to Calcutta through Act I of 1850, with a view to confirm the title to lands in Calcutta taken for public purpose. At that time
railways were being developed and it was felt that legislation was needed for acquiring land for them also.
Building act XXVII of 1839 and act XX of 1852 were introduced to obviate
the difficulties to particular cities of Bombay and madras.
Act VI of 1857 was the first full enactment, which had application to
the whole of British India. It repealed all previous enactments relating to acquisition and its object.
Subsequently act x of 1870 came in to effect which was further replaced
by land acquisition act 1894 in order to purge the flaws of act of 1870.
“LAND ACQUISITION ACT-1894” is a well defined, self contained efficient
act for facilitating land acquisition process. After independence in 1947 Indian government adopted “land acquisition
act-1894” as a tool for land acquisition.
Since then various amendments have been made to the 1894 act from time
to time. Despite these amendments the administrative procedures have
remained same. Since 1951, the Govt. started, through the 1st & 4th
amendment, to incorporate various land reform acts. This it did by
incorporating schedule 9 of the Constitution. Time and again, the government felt that the right to property was a roadblock for it. It
therefore sought to amend the constitution and aimed at abolishing the
right to property. It did so in the year 1978 by the 44th amendment to the Constitution of India.
Government will amend Land Acquisition Act
The Supreme Court (SC) has sought amendment of a century-old Land
Acquisition Act to alleviate the hardships of the original owners of the
land acquired. The court issued certain guidelines on the mechanism to be adopted for
acquisition of land for commercial purposes. The bench recommended a model acquisition of large scale land for
planned urban development by forming residential layouts.
Several efforts were made in the past to amend the Act in the favour of
land-owners. Some clauses were changed but could not bring the desired
relief to the poor farmers and people who were displaced due to acquisition. The NDA regime, in 2003, brought a Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Bill but, it lapsed. Another Bill brought by the UPA government in 2007 met the same fate. A revised version of the 2007 Bill
was re-introduced in 2010, which is still pending.
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 draconian: Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 14, 2011 said the Land
Acquisition Act of 1894 as "draconian" while the Singur Bill would show
the way for the entire country. Participating in the debate in the Assembly over the Singur Land
Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, she said the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894, has been a cause of suffering to a large number of countrymen
as it was "draconian". Banerjee said she had conveyed her reservations about the Act to the
Centre which was amending it. Banerjee said the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011,
would show the way to the people not only in West Bengal but the entire
country. She said her government was formulating a land policy and had formed an expert committee.
Stating that her government would not acquire land forcibly, Banerjee
said whatever land might be required for projects in public interest
would be taken on the basis of financial packages for land-losers and by
involving the gram sabhas and the panchayats. Banerjee said her government was also in the process of preparing a
package for agricultural labourers affected by acquisition of agricultural land. |
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State biggest land grabber, says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on July 05, 2011 said that the state was the biggest land grabber, depriving
farmers of their livelihood for generations. By taking advantage of the land acquisition law, the state was helping
the builders. 'It is anti-people,' the court said.
The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly
said that farmers' lands were being acquired in the name of public
interest and being given to builders to construct luxury houses, which
had nothing to do with the requirement of the common man. The court made the comment during the hearing on a batch of petitions by
a number of builders challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict that
quashed the takeover of land in three villages of Shahberi, Surajpur and
Gulistanpur in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida district.
The land was taken over by invoking emergency provisions of the Land
Acquisition Act by changing the land use from industrial to residential.
Justice Singhvi said farmers deprived of livelihood after the
acquisition of their lands were left with two options - either to live
in slums or to take recourse to criminal activities which we get to witness every day.
When senior counsel P.P. Rao appearing for one of the builders said that
farmers' lands were acquired for public purposes, Justice Ganguly wondered whether the houses being built by 'reputed builders' were meant
for the common man and to satisfy their needs.
Referring to the broachures of the builder represented by Rao, Justice
Ganguly said that you have promised to provide swimming pool, ayurdevic
massage parlour and spa, health club, badminton court and commercial centre. Are these meant for the common man?
When Rao referred to the public purpose as defined under the Land
Acquisition Act, Justice Ganguly asked the counsel to forget what was
said in the statute but go by how Mahatma Gandhi had described the
common man and the spirit of the same enshrined in the constitution.
Justice Singhvi noted that not only the land use was changed from
industrial to residential but the builders were given 10 years' time to
pay the amount that they had bid for buying the lands. Justice Singhvi said that on the other hand farmers whose lands were
acquired would have to either accept the paltry compensation or engage in decades of litigation to secure their rights.
In the instant case, farmers whose land was acquired were paid a compensation of about Rs.800 per square yard whereas it was sold to
builders for Rs.10,000 per square metre. The hearing would continue on July 6, 2011. |
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