New land acquisition Act shot in arm for state govt

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 30

The amended Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Act, 2017, has come as a shot in the arm for the Haryana Government vis-à-vis denotification of land acquired for the projects which could not take off over the years.

The Act, which was accorded assent by the President recently, would provide an upper hand to the state government against farmers who had been delaying the execution of several major projects across the state.

Sources said the amended Act would go a long way in removing certain lacunae in the existing laws which were exploited by people with “vested interests” to derail the development projects.

Land acquisition is a very sensitive issue in Haryana with several violent protests reported in the past over acquisition of land.

The Section 101-A of the new Act would especially provide much relief to the state government. It said: “When any public purpose, for which the land acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, become unviable or non-essential, the state government shall be at liberty to denotify such land, on such terms, as considered expedient by the state government, including the payment of compensation on account of damages, if any, sustained by the land owners due to such acquisition.”

Similarly, it said: “Where a part of the acquired land has been utilised or any encumbrances have been created, the landowner may be compensated by providing alternative land along with payment of damages, if any, as determined by the state government”.

The existing laws did not provide for return of land to farmers, whose land was acquired for the project several years back.

By notifying the new Act, the state government has set the denotification process for the 1,019 acres acquired by the state government the Dadupur-Nalvi canal in motion.

Congress cries foul

Condemning the denotification of Dadupur Nalwi canal project, AICC communications in charge Randeep Surjewala has described the government move as "injustice and deception with farmers." Referring to the farmers' delegation meeting on January 5 with President Ram Nath Kovind for not giving his assent to the Bill related to cancellation of the project in Haryana, Surjewala claimed the President had assured the delegation that the farmers' perspective would be considered before taking a decision on the issue. 

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