Govt set to make ‘favourable’ amendments to land Bill

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

The BJP-led government is all set to introduce “favourable changes” in the contentious Land Acquisition Bill, which even has its allies up in arms against it.

A day after Punjab ally Akali Dal expressed opposition to passing the law without the consent of landowners, top government sources said the Land Amendment Bill, which has already been tabled in the Lok Sabha, could be moved for consideration and discussion on Monday with some “amendments from the government’s side but without affecting the core of the legislation”.

Senior BJP leaders will hold consultations with the Opposition parties and allies over the extended weekend, starting tomorrow, to strike “a middle path on some key contentions”.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to meet Congress leaders after he returns from the US tomorrow. Likewise consultations will be held with all parties, including allies Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and the BJP, over sticking points in the legislation. However, BJP leaders are unlikely to touch base with Left parties who are likely to remain relentless, sources say.

There is no point, they say, especially after the “embarrassment inflicted primarily by Left leaders” in the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

Sources say the government is amenable to suggestions that are in the larger interests of farmers, the Prime Minister has already said it in both Houses, but without affecting the core of the legislation. After all it is the Land Acquisition Bill, not the land no-acquisition Bill.

The NDA’s efforts to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, has been questioned in various quarters for exempting certain categories of land acquisitions from the “consent” clause and other issues. Of the five new purposes that the BJP-led government introduced in the Bill, it might be able to buy peace with the warring sections by introducing changes in the clause related to industrial corridors.

Objections are also being made to the changes made in Section 87 of the old Bill.