Balancing of rights in land acquisition

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, has been cleared by the cabinet and has been introduced in parliament. The bill seeks to make far reaching changes in the archaic Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

The major changes proposed by the bill include the provision for rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced persons. Like the act, the bill also enables the government to acquire land and transfer it to private companies for public purposes.

The bill’s provisions relating to rehabilitation and resettlement apply not only where the government acquires land for private companies but also where the independent purchase by private companies through private negotiations with land owners results in the purchase of more than 100 acres of land in rural areas and more than 50 acres in urban areas.

Mrinal Kumar is a partner and Shruti Garg is a senior associate with Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of Amarchand Mangaldas. The authors can be contacted at mrinal.kumar@amarchand.com and Shruti.garg@amarchand.com.