Land Acquisition in India

Abstract

Land acquisition refers to the process where a government acquires land from land owners for any purpose. Generally, the purpose is related to development projects conducted either by PSUs (Public Sector units) or the private sector. The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which was imposed in India since the time of British rule. Under this Act, the government could acquire any land as it wishes to, in the name of "public purpose". The British had never defined the words "public purpose" in a straightforward manner, which meant that in theory as well as in practice, a government could acquire land for any purpose they wanted, and term their purpose "public purpose". After independence, this practice continued whereby Indian governments, both at the central and at the state level, acquired large amounts of land for various kinds of development and infrastructure projects, such as roads, highways, ports (air and sea), power projects (thermal, hydro and nuclear) etc. During 1947 till 1991, most of these acquisitions had been done by agencies or units in the public sector. After 1991, when liberalisation had taken place, most of the land acquisition was done by the government to provide land for the private sector, either for private sector projects (infrastructure projects like power, roads etc.) but also for housing projects. Many bills came for amending Land Acquisition Act of 1894. In 2013, the Land Acquisition Act got amended and changed to Right to fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The new Act has provisions to provide fair compensation to those whose land is taken away, brings transparency to the process of acquisition of land set up factories or buildings, infrastructural projects and assure rehabilitation to those affected. As, this Act was brought in force at the time of UPA Govt., the NDA Govt. in present time bringing ordinances to amend the Act.

Keywords: Land Acquisition Act of 1894, Right to fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013