What is the controversy dogging Haryana Land Acquisition Bill 2021?

It was passed a year ago, last August, but controversy does not seem to leave Haryana’s Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Bill, passed by the state Assembly last year and sent for the consideration of the President by the Haryana Governor, seeks to expedite development projects by simplifying the procedure for acquisition of land. However, the Bill has been criticised for allegedly being “anti-farmer” and promoting “crony capitalism”.

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Controversial clauses

One of the controversial provisions in the Bill is that it has brought Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects to the ‘exempt’ category, for which Social Impact Assessment (SIA)/ consent of landowners is not re-required. Also, the Bill seeks to do away with the condition of 48-hour prior notice to the occupants of an acquired building to evacuate. Occupants would be liable to vacate the building immediately after the Collector announces the award.

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Moreover, the Collector can determine the fair compensation and make the award without further enquiry if he is satisfied that all persons interested in the land have consented to the terms and conditions of their free will.

The Congress had staged a walkout in protest during the passage of the Bill and announced to meet the Governor against it. Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had blasted the Congress then, saying it was misleading people regarding the amended Bill.

He said that with the amendment of the Bill, it will be easier to complete projects like water houses, grain markets, bridges, schools, etc., in the state soon.

Congress MLA puts up a fight

Earlier this month, Haryana Congress MLA Kiran Choudhry asked President Droupadi Murmu to withhold her assent to the Bill in the larger public interest.

In a letter to Murmu, Choudhry said that her letter is a prayer for fair play for farmers, tenants, artisans and labourers whose sole means of subsistence and livelihood is dependent on agricultural land.

“While we accept the imperative need to acquire land by the state for infrastructure projects for rapid development, this has to be through a humane, transparent and fair process of adequate compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation of all the affected persons. The Haryana amendment Bill seeks to disturb this tenuous equilibrium enshrined in the benign principal Act passed by Parliament,” she wrote.

Choudhry said the Bill, if allowed to become law, will lead to unconscionable enrichment of big corporate players while impoverishing the peasantry in Haryana, and is thus likely to disturb the social harmony and peace in the state. “The amendment Bill is ipso-facto unconstitutional and wholly antithetical in letter and spirit to the central principal Act,” she added.

“Provisions 2 and 3 of the Bill seek to exempt multi-cropped irrigated agricultural lands from bar to acquisition, not only for government projects but also for the private sector under the guise of public-private partnership by seeking to insert Section 10A. These provisions have the effect of waiving off the statutory safeguards of either seeking consent of 70 per cent of affected stakeholders (as envisaged under Section 2 of the principal Act), or of doing a social impact assessment of such projects, which is in complete contravention of the basic spirit of the central principal Act. 

“The sole purpose of this proposed amendment seems to be to throw lush and prime agriculture land open to acquisition by big corporate players, waiving the safeguards in the benign principal Act,” the Congress MLA said.

She further said that the Bill is wholly against the principles of natural justice and fair play, as it seeks to arm the collector with the draconian powers of announcing an award for acquisition without a spot visit or an inquiry in case such acquisition is with the consent of persons interested in the land.

Land-pooling policy

In another development, the Haryana government has released a new land pooling policy to protect the interests of land owners and ensure that adequate land is available for urbanisation and industrial development across the state.

Under this policy, the government will give a land owner a land entitlement certificate, which can be traded or mortgaged. The policy will apply to owners offering land for a specific development project. The government also plans to reach out to farmers who are unwilling to part with their land when the rate of acquisition is low or lesser than the market rate.

HC judgement adds a new twist

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a significant judgment recently that is likely to change the way land acquisition disputes are adjudicated. The court ruled that the grant of NOC (no-objection certificate) for establishing a college would not be an impediment in the state government’s endeavour to acquire the land in accordance with the provisions of the applicable land acquisition law.

The Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker and Justice Arun Palli also said the permission for the change of land use, licence, NOC or any other permission granted once would not provide immunity to the land for all times to come from its acquisition by the state.

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The Bench made it clear that the landowners could not claim rehabilitation to be a precondition for either dispossessing them from the acquired land or for upholding the validity of acquisition proceedings. Even the court could not pass such directions given the legislative scheme of the land acquisition Act.

The ruling came on a petition by an educational society in Manesar and other petitioners questioning the acquisition of their land. Among other things, it was argued that the state could not acquire the land for the development of an industrial model township after granting permission to set up a school and issuing NOC to set up a BEd college.