SEZ: Farmers to have say on their land

Farmers will finally have a right to decide if their land can be acquired or not for special economic zones (SEZ) in Maharashtra.

Even if they are served notices earmarking their lands for acquisition and asking them to appear for hearing before land acquisition authority (normally the district collector) on whether their land should be acquired for SEZ or not, said Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Deshmukh's announcement in the legislature that there will be no forced acquisition of land for the Reliance Industries' Mumbai SEZ. An empowered group of minister?s decision that state governments will have no role in land acquisition has created quite a confusion in the government circles over the land acquisition process.

To add to this debate over the acquisition issue, Raigad district collector maintains that since he has not written any communication either from the state government or the Centre on land acquisition, it will continue.

So to get clarification on this confusion when contacted Deshmukh he said, "The purpose of serving notices and asking farmers to appear for a hearing is essentially to earmark the land which the SEZ developer wants to acquire. But if the farmer objects to the acquisition on any ground, no final award will be declared."

Under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, at the outset the farmer is served a notice informing him that his land has been earmarked for acquisition.

Subsequently, he is asked to come for a hearing. During the hearing, the land acquisition authority tries to find out if the farmer has any objection to the land acquisition process itself or the compensation declared.

But even after the farmer objects to his land being acquired, the land acquisition authority can declare a final award notifying the land for acquisition and decide upon the compensation unilaterally.

So if the farmer objects to the land acquisition, the government will then not move ahead with the final stage of land acquisition process, Deshmukh clarified.

Meanwhile, speaking to Business Standard Vaishali Patil, convener of anti-SEZ Action Committee charged, "Chief minister's assurance is nothing but an eyewash, the state government is trying to create confusion over the issue and help Reliance Industries discreetly to acquire the land."

If Deshmukh was sincere about his assurance, why till date no orders of scrapping the land acquisition process have been issued and sent to Raigad district collector, She sought to know.