MAPPING DILUTIONS IN A CENTRAL LAW | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
September 2017
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
29
License of the resource: 
Copyright details: 
© 2017 CPR, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi

This is a working paper by Kanchi Kohli and Debayan Gupta, Centre for Policy Research,Namati Environmental Justice Program, which throws light on Right  to  Fair  Compensation  and  Transparency  in  Land  Acquisition,  Rehabilitation  and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013. It is indiacted that there has been at the centre of intense debate. Controversial changes were introduced to  this  law  by  the  National  Democratic  Alliance  (NDA)  government,  soon  after  it  came  to  power  in  2014.  These changes  were  discussed  in  Parliament,  analysed  in  the  media  and  challenged  at  protests.  While  the  fate  of  the amendments  rests  currently  with  the  Joint  Parliamentary  Committee (JPC)  report,  several  states  have  already brought  about  changes  through  Rules  under  Section  109  of  the  Act  or  have  enacted  their  own  state  level  land acquisition legislations.


An examination of these efforts by state governments reveals the following trends:


  • At least six state governments have enacted their own land acquisition laws by seeking Presidential consent .
  • New state  laws  directly  adopt  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  2014  land  ordinance  and  exclude acquisitions for certain purposes from the purview of the central law.
  • States are also adopting the clauses of the NDA government’s 2014 land ordinance through the drafting of state  rules,  thereby  attempting  to  ‘amend’  the  central  law.
  • State level rules are diluting the applicability of the progressive clauses like prior consent, public hearings or Social Impact Assessment (SIA).
  • States are repatriating unused acquired land into land banks rather than returning it to the original owners as  required  by  the  central  law.
  • State Rules are reducing the amount of compensations to be paid against acquisitions.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Kanchi Kohli, Debayan Gupta

Publisher(s): 

The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) has been one of India’s leading public policy think tanks since 1973. The Centre is a non-profit, non-partisan independent institution dedicated to conducting research that contributes to the production of high quality scholarship, better policies, and a more robust public discourse about the structures and processes that shape life in India.

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