The Land Acquisition Act is a progressive legislation – Part II
Commonly called as the land acquisition Act (LAA) the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, which recently received the presidential assent has received a fair share of criticism.
However, the LAA is a very comprehensive and well-meaning legislation that seeks to achieve quite the opposite.
Reasons for positively considering the LAA:
A clear definition of the term “public purpose” has now been included. Earlier the bane of this legislation used to be the thorough misuse of the clause – “eminent domain”. The clause led to forcible acquisition programmes along with “lazy acquisitions”, wherein the land acquired was majorly in excess of requirements or just left underutilized.
Further, joint ventures were inked between the private sector and state-based entities, wherein the private sector would bequeath a minority stake within a project on the state and in turn would depend on the state to acquire land tracts at notified low prices.
The major portion of investment that corporates in India face is ‘acquisition cost’. The LAA would definitely increase the acquisition cost. However, this aspect of increased cost is not unreasonable and is justifiable considering that in perpetuity land is an appreciating asset. As a result mega projects would have to consciously move away to affordable interiors from more expensive areas. This would ensure development in the rural regions as well.
The LAA has compulsorily tied up land acquisition with statutory Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R). This helps both the landowners as well as those whose livelihoods would get affected. The amalgam of “consent”, “public purpose”, “compensation” along with “R&R requirements” would finally prohibit thoughtless acquisition of farmlands for industrial use.
The LAA would lead both the government and industry alike to follow a rational “merit-order” for identifying and acquiring land for industrialization from the ample options that are available.
Conclusion:
This leaves very little doubt that the LAA is a comprehensive legislation, which has achieved the tedious and difficult balancing, act of marrying sociology, economics and development.
In fact, some developing countries are considering implementing the Indian LAA as a template for their own indigenous solutions to problems regarding land.
The legislation’s edifice rests up on the laudable pillars of genuine consent, public purpose, fair compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation, along with transparency.
