Valuers may be used in land acquisition

The Planning Commission is examining the possibility of using private independent valuers for valuation of agricultural land proposed to be taken over for industrial or non-agricultural uses.

"The valuation of the agricultural land in the country is unfair and biased towards the purchaser, it should be valued by a proper independent valuer," said Santosh Mehrotra, senior consultant, Planning Commission, GoI.

According to him, of around 145 million hectares of agricultural land in the country, only 5 million hectares had been acquired by the various state governments so far.

"Much more land would be acquired on the account of the industrialisation and the government must take into account large scale acquisition, otherwise the projects would run into trouble. A proper valuation of land would ease the process of acquisition," he added.

Again the rehabilitation is not applicable if the land is acquired by a private player and in that case only compensation should be given.

But in this case on the account of a higher stamp duty the deals are registered at a lower prices compared to the actual price, which implies a lower valuation and thereby a lower compensation.