Land Bill: Panel to give report in House on August 11

With consensus already in place on key issues, the Joint Committee on the land Bill will submit its report before Parliament on August 11. The panel, which has decided to meet again on August 10 morning before Parliament convenes, is also likely to move a motion in Lok Sabha seeking a fresh extension as its deadline expires on August 7.

"We will submit our report on the land Bill to Parliament on August 11," BJP MP SS Ahluwalia, who heads the panel, told reporters here after a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Having arrived at a unanimous agreement on six key issues, including on bringing back the consent clause and social impact assessment in the land acquisition law, the Committee aims to finalise its view on three other issues at its August 10 meeting.

The meeting, which was to happen on Tuesday, was postponed for six days following a demand for the same by Congress on the grounds that one of its members on the panel from Lok Sabha was not in a position to attend the deliberations due to suspension from the said House along with 24 other party MPs.

The issues that the panel would take up next week include the one relating to the time-frame after which unutilised acquired land must be returned to its original owner.

The government has already expressed readiness to accept recommendations of the committee -- which has restored provisions of the UPA law -- insisting that it was not a climbdown as it was always open to changes on which there was consensus.