Land Acquisition Act 1894

Land Acquisition Act 1894 , provides power to state and central government for acquisition of private land for public utility purpose. The act also provides legal right to government on land that do not belong to anyone. The act has serious flaws and requires amendment for safeguarding interest of poor farmers, land less labours and community at large.

The Land Acquisition Act , states that state and central government may take private land in her possession for public purpose. The state government has to pay compensation to land owners at market price. The Act also states that since the acquisition is forceful in nature the compensation should be above market rate (normally 15% above the market rate)

While act consider compensation to landowners, it does not talk about other stake holder who are affected from acquisition. The land in rural India is normally in name of male family members, thus females are largely sufferers. The community ties are broken and service providers like barber, artisans, fisherman , self-employed are also affected due to displacement of village and community. The act believes that the farmers and poors to whom compensation is provided are fully aware of saving and investment opportunity available in market and compensation will take care of their livelihood. In fact these are mostly illiterate and compensation amount is usually utilized in consumption, leaving them mostly worse-off.

The Act is also silent on the definition of public utility. The term public purpose is vague and several interpretations can be made. In case of Baji Rao Kote case , the government has acquires land for providing way to Saibaba Temple. In the judgment court said that neither court is capable nor it is in its scope to define public purpose and said that the state if believes that the it is for public purpose then they can acquire land under land acquisition Law.

In the case of Yamuna ExpressWay the land acquisition was done and given to third party for utilization. Amusement parks were also developed on the land. The court in its judgment has said that the term public purpose has broader meaning then public utility and even if it satisfies the need of a particular class/community it is public purpose.

In sharan Vs UP state, state was acquiring fertile land for construction of jail, the court has defined public purpose as the act that serves purpose of larger community.

In another case of Radhey Shyam Vs UP State regarding acquisition of agricultural land for industrial purpose in Gautam Budh Nagar court has noticed that fertile land was begin acquired for residential purpose and the emergency clause of act was used when protest was made against acquisition of land. The victims are generally poor and unaware of their rights and accept it as their fate.Even if some of them are educated they are unaware of functioning of court.

Under the chapter-7 of act, the government can also acquire land for companies. The act specifies that in case whole of the amount is paid by company then the land is said to be acquire by company and company has to adhere to strict norms of chapter-7 , however if government also pays part of the acquisition amount even if this amount is Rs 100 or Rs 1 the acquisition is said to be done by government and company need not to go through chapter-7 rules. Now the government can give land to the company for public purpose i.e for setting up of industry. The government believes that industrialization will generate employment and will contribute to grow hence it is a public purpose.

The vague definition of public purpose has open the way for forceful acquisition of land and then transferring same to companies and third party developers for their private use.

The new proposed Land acquisition act is improvement over some of the lacunae. The word public purpose has been defined as betterment of general public. The chapter-7 in old acct has been removed. Now state government can acquire land for company if company is already having 70% of land. It also states that government can acquire land for joint ventures and when land has been acquired for giving it to third party for development and use for not more than 40 years. However the chapter 7 has been removed but it has opened new possibilities for acquiring land for industrialization. It has put the condition for owning 70% of land and not 70% consent. The 70% land can be acquired from 2% large land owners but this will make them eligible to ask more land from government without asking consent of remaining 98% .

The act has also included social impact analysis to assess and identify the real stakeholders that might get affected out of displacement. The act has setup a limit of 400 families in plains and 200 families in rural area for taking up rehabilitation program.

Although the act is positive step in direction of better identification of stake holders and their rehabilitation, but have escape clause making them prone for unworkable solutions. The government has given advantage to companies by making acquisition for easy. The government seems to be in favour of mass industrialization and still believes in trickle down theory.