What will happen to Maha Rehabilitation law?
By Dr. Sanjay Chaturvedi
The centre government had put the new The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, on the table of the house with much clarifications. If passed, the bill will control land sale in the country. But there are some contradictions to the state level Act like Maharashtra have already passed Rehabilitation bill which give compensation which is not according to the National Act.
The government of Mahrashtra have gone back on their words to allot developed land to farmers who gave land for infrastructure and industrial projects. In December 2009, the state government amended the law that provided farmers developed land in lieu of land acquired from them.
The Maharashtra Project Affected Persons’ Rehabilitation Act, 2009 had a clause that said 12.5 per cent landdeveloped for a project should be given to the farmers from whom the project land is acquired. The amendment, passed during the winter session of the Assembly, has gone away with this clause.
World Bank also, in the past had raised the issue while funding to MMRDA’s project was withdrawn for want of fair deals to displaced persons. Farmers who will be displaced by MIHAN in Nagpur would have been the first to getdeveloped land under the law if it had not been amended. The farmers who have refused to vacate their land are upset over the latest development.
The amendment was made becuase cost of developed land has risen steeply. Project affected persons will now be given alternative land, the state information department said in a press release on 9th December 2009. This is the second amendment in the Act in the past four months. In August 2009, an amendment was made to dilute the clause relating to giving developed land to farmers by adding the options of cash compensation or equivalent Transfer of Development Rights for property development. Those who opposed, like in Navi Mumbai and Reliance SEZ, got permanent reservation of Agriculture use and will not be allowed to give it for residential purposes.
Another issue is that housing is a state subject and if developers acquiring land then it should not be controlled by any national Act.
While the bill does not prevent private developers from acquiring land from farmers directly after negotiations, if the size of the land being acquired is over 100 acres, then the developer will have to provide for rehabilitation and resettlement benefits. Also, land buyers are to pay land owners four times the market rate in rural areas and twice the market rate in urban areas.
While terming the move as ‘draconian’, Sunil Mantri, Chairman, Sunil Mantri Group, felt that it would impact several sectors and by bringing private negotiations for land under the government ambit, it would lead to several hurdles to buy land and increase procedural delays.
Mr. Mantri pointed out that henceforth, ‘affordable housing’ projects would cease to be affordable. Hitherto, land was a small component of any project cost but suddenly this could become a significant, if not most significant, cost of any project.
