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The government failed to weave a consensus today between political parties on the Land Acquisition Bill at an all party meet convened here.
The government is fighting opposition demand to send back the Bill to the standing committee saying that it would try to accommodate some of their demands for changes in the Bill.
The parties led by the BJP insisted that the Bill be sent back to a Standing Committee saying that the changes wrought in the Bill went much beyond the recommendations made by the parliamentary standing committee.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told parties they could give their suggestions by April 15 and these could be discussed at an all day meeting of all parties on April 18, a participant said.
The Government wants to present the Bill in the budget session which resumes after a break from April 22, but unless some changes are made, I will insist on the Bill being sent to standing committee, Basudev Acharya leader of CPM in the Lok Sabha told Business Standard.
He said that the minister had earlier in February asked MPs from all parties to give their suggestions on changes in the Land Bill. Only one of my suggestions has been accepted, regarding the removal of threshold level for rehabilitation.
What I wanted was an all encompassing Act which includes land acquisition allowed under various Acts of Parliament. These laws dont provide for rehabilitation and hence I want these to come under this Bill. Unless this is accepted we want the Bill to go to Standing Committee, he said.
He said that BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has said that the new Bill has expanded the contexts in which land acquisition can be allowed. She said that it went against the spirit of the standing committee recommendation that land should not be acquired by Government on behalf of private parties or PPPs. She also insisted that the Bill be sent back to Standing Committee, he said.
The main objection is to the fact that the Ministry of Rural Development has carried out 154 amendments in the Bill in the name of accommodating recommendations made by the Standing Committee and is now a different Bill altogether, with little resemblance to the earlier version or to the recommendations made by the Committee.
Earlier before the beginning of the budget session, Opposition parties began opposing the Bill with letters sent to the Speaker.
Acharya wrote to Speaker Meira Kumar objecting to the presenting of the Land Bill prompting her to invite him over for discussions, besides prompting Jairam Ramesh to meet with him with a reconciliatory offer.
Despite these efforts the stalemate continues on the Land Bill.
If there is no agreement between the Government and others, how can there be consensus? asks Acharya.However chairman of the standing committee which made recommendations on the Land Bill.
