Guj Land Bill 2016 gets Prez nod; Cong says it's anti-farmer

The Gujarat Land Acquisition Bill that dilutes a related act brought in by UPA government by discarding key provisions for social impact assessment and consent clauses for acquisition of land for "public purposes" and "industrial corridors" has received Presidential assent.
The legislation will be implemented from Independence Day next Monday, it was announced here today
The Bill, seeking to remove the two key clauses for acquisition of land for public purposes, industrial corridors and Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects, has been strongly opposed by Congress, which today dubbed it "anti-farmer and pro-industrialist".
"President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the 'Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Gujarat Amendment) Bill 2016' on August 8," State Revenue Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma told reporters here today.

"We will implement the new law in the state from August 15, which is Independence Day," he said. The state government will notify it as an Act before August 15.
"The 2013 UPA Land Act had many anomalies. This new amended law of ours will remove those anomalies and facilitate fast-paced growth in the state," he said.

The amended Bill was passed by the State Legislative Assembly on March 31 this year, before it was sent for the Presidential nod.
After assuming power at Centre in 2014, the Narendra Modi government had brought in amendments to Land Acquisition Act 2013. All the amendments that were brought by NDA government were part of the bill that Gujarat Assembly had passed.

The NDA version, however, failed to pass the muster of Rajya Sabha as the BJP and allies lacked numbers in the Upper House. The Modi government then dropped the idea of passage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha and instead asked states to amend the law suiting them.
One of the key provisions of the Bill is doing away with Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for projects related to Defence and social sectors, such as building air base, defence manufacturing units, schools, roads, canals, affordable houses, etc.
The other key change is that SIA will not be carried out for land acquisition for industrial corridor and PPP projects taken up by the government.

As per the new Bill, these provisions will not be
followed if the land is acquired for public purpose. However, it will remain in place for acquisition related to industrial development.
In the original Act, a head of the department is liable to face criminal proceedings and punished as per the law, if he is found guilty of any misdeeds related to land acquisition process. However, the government replaced the provision with a milder one.
As per the Bill, proceedings against head of the department will be subject to government's consent, without which he could not be prosecuted directly by court.

Apart from the social and defence sector projects, the Bill proposes to exempt from SIA industrial corridors set up by the state government and its undertakings, where it is required to acquire land up to 1 km on both sides of designated railway line or road.
In addition, the infrastructure projects under PPP mode, where land continues to vest with the government, are also exempted from social impact assessment and consent clause.
Chudasama said farmers will gain as compensation part has been kept unchanged.
"In the urban areas compensation paid to land owners will be 100 per cent of the market value of the land, while in rural areas it would be 400 per cent," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress has termed the bill as "anti-farmer".
State unit Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said his party will continue to fight for the rights of farmers and keep a close watch on any forceful acquisition of land.
"This Bill was brought only for the benefit of industrialists and people having links with BJP leaders. The Bill is totally anti-farmer. The amendments brought through this Bill proves the anti-people mentality of BJP," Doshi alleged.
After the bill was passed by the Gujarat Assembly in March, the Congress submitted representations to Governor OP Kohli as well as President Pranab Mukherjee requesting them to not grant assent.

"As the Bill has been given presidential assent and set to be implemented, Congress will keep a close watch on how it is implemented by authorities. We will try to make sure that poor farmers and land owners do not lose their land due to the arbitrary implantation by the government. We will not allow the government to misuse the Act," added Doshi.