Barring Odisha and Punjab, no state acquired land under UPA law

NDA brought changes in the law as states had complained of difficulty in acquiring land under old Act

Except for Odisha and Punjab, no state has acquired land under the land acquisition Act of 2013, according to data furnished by 20 states to the Joint Committee of Parliament examining contentious amendments to the law.

One of the contentions of the NDA government for bringing amendments through an ordinance to the UPA's land law of 2013 was that it was necessitated because the states had complained of difficulty in acquiring land under the old Act.

The states were asked by the panel to furnish the details of land acquired after the 2013 law came into force following Opposition's rejection of the contention that Modi government had to bring the ordinance to enable states to tide over difficulties in land acquisition.

The BJP-ruled Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand have not given any data regarding land acquisition to the Committee so far, while 20 states and Union Territories have furnished related information to the panel.

Of these, 18 states have acquired no land since the 2013 Act came into force.

They include Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Congress-ruled Assam, West Bengal ruled by TMC, BJP-ruled Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Delhi and AIADMK-ruled Tamil Nadu.

States and Union Territories which have acquired "nil" land include Northeastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura, besides Goa, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The BJD government in Odisha has acquired 303.564 acres of private land under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013.

The panel has asked the state governments to confirm whether the land has been acquired under RFCTLARR Act, since the rules have not been notified yet.

In Punjab, ruled by SAD and BJP, the government has acquired only 26.54 acres of land under the 2013 Act.

No land has been acquired under the 2013 Act in Andhra Pradesh till now.

However, compensation has been paid there for acquiring 86.07 acres of land in Visakhapatnam initiated under old land acquisition Act of 1894 where award had not been passed.

This is being done as per Section 24(1) of the 2013 land acquisition Act and the amount of compensation is about Rs 18.49 crore.