Future SEZs to Be Included in Land Bill
The land bill which is being passed is already attracting criticisms by the realty industry. Amidst this, the Union Minister for Rural Development has said that land acquisition for future special economic zones (SEZ) will be included in this bill. He said that there will be no illegal or underhand dealings while acquiring land for SEZs due to this inclusion.
The Land Bill
The land acquisition bill, now called ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act’, dictates how lands will be acquired and how land owners will be compensated. It replaces the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. According to the earlier law, the land owner would be entitled to a compensation based on the market value determined as on the preliminary notification date.
The new bill necessitates that any land to be acquired for public-private partnership (PPP) projects or private companies need consent of at least 70% and 80% respectively, of the land owners. The bill also requires the land owners to be given a compensation of two times the market value in urban and four times in a rural area for the land acquired. The bill is applicable for acquisition of more than 50 acres in urban areas and 100 acres in rural areas.
Land acquisition for SEZs
The Union Minister stated that with the earlier Land Acquisition Act, several real estate companies had acquired large chunks of land for realty development in the name of SEZs. The new law will curb this practice. He said that the new law will apply to future SEZ land acquisitions and not the previous ones. He also stated that retrospective provisions in the new Act will apply if the land acquisition happened five years ago or earlier. These provisions will however not apply if land acquisition has happened within five years.
The retrospective clauses in the new bill will apply in three cases. The compensation in all these situations will be according to the new act.
1. If the land award has not been announced under the earlier act.
2. The land award has been announced but physical possession has not yet been taken.
3. A majority of farmers have not accepted the compensation.
The Act currently doesn’t have a provision for dealing with denotified SEZs.
Land Bill not to affect land purchase
The Indian real estate industry had expressed concerns over the new bill claiming that it would make projects economically unviable while surging up expenses as well as project delays. The Central Minister stated that the new legislation would not affect land purchase and would only be applicable to land acquisition by the Central and State authorities for public work. This included mining, defense, infrastructure, roads, railways and manufacturing zones. There are no restrictions or minimum baselines on industrialists buying land for private purposes.
