Introduction

Land acquisition in India refers to the process by which the union or a state government
acquires private land for the purpose of development purposes like industrialization,
development of infrastructural facilities or urbanization of the private land, and provides
compensation to the affected landowners and their rehabilitation and resettlement.

In other words, Land acquisition is the process by which the government forcibly
acquires private property for public purpose without the consent of the land-owner. It is
different from a land purchase, in which the sale is made by a willing seller. India faces
serious challenges in creating development processes that generate economic growth
while being socially inclusive, ecologically sustainable, politically feasible,
and in accordance with the Rule of Law.

Land acquisition in India is governed by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR) and which came into effect from 1 January 2014. Before that in 2013,
land acquisition in India was governed by Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

In May 2014, as the Bhartiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance came to power, riding high on its development-
driven agenda, it sought to bring about immediate reforms in land acquisition procedures. It was argued by the government
that without land acquisition, they will find it difficult to execute their projects, including the “Make in India” programme, which
seeks to revive and boost domestic manufacturing. On 31 December 2014, the President of India promulgated an ordinance
with an official mandate to “meet the twin objectives of farmer welfare; along with expeditiously meeting the strategic and
developmental needs of the country”.

The land is not only an important economic resource and source of livelihoods, it is also central to community identity,
history and culture. Unsurprisingly then, throughout India, a dispute over state acquisition of land that deprives people of
their land rights spans various dimensions of economic, social, and political life.

Background of Land Acquisition Law

1. Colonial Period

The first land acquisition legislation in India was enacted by the British government in 1824. Called the Bengal Resolution I
of 1824, the law applied only to Bengal province subject to the presidency of Fort William.” The law enabled the government
to “obtain, at a fair valuation, land or other immovable property required for roads, canals or other public purposes.” In 1850,
the British extended the regulation to Calcutta (now Kolkata), through another legislation. The Act of 1850 “declared that
Railways were public works and thus enabled the provisions of Resolution I of 1824 to be used for acquiring lands for the
construction of railways.”

However, it was in 1857 that the British enacted legislation that applied to the rest of the provinces or presidencies and the
whole of British India. Act VI of 1857 “repealed all previous enactments relating to acquisition and its object as stated in its
preamble, was to make better provision for the acquisition of land needed for public purposes within the territories in the
possession and under the governance of the East India Company and for the determination of the amount for the
compensation to be paid for the same.”

This act, owing to “unsatisfactory settlement”, “incompetence” and “corruption” was further amended in 1861 (Act II) and
1863 (Act XXII) and subsequently led to the enactment of Act X of 1870. The 1870 law, which for the first time, brought a
mechanism for settlement, was eventually replaced by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (Act I of 1894).

The 1894 law did not apply to princely states like Hyderabad, Mysore, and Travancore, who enacted their own land
acquisition legislation. All laws enacted by the colonial administration initially in the then Presidency towns and later
spreading across the country, to facilitate the easy acquisition of land and other immovable properties for roads, canals and
other ‘public purposes’ with compensation to be determined by specifically appointed arbitrators.
2. Independent India

After India gained independence in 1947, it adopted the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 by the “Indian Independence
(Adaptation of Central Acts and Ordinances) Order” in 1948.

The new Constitutional frame brought in elements of federalism, universal adult suffrage, and basic fundamental rights.
Land Acquisition, in the new Constitutional scheme, was rendered in a Concurrent list subject, with the power to both Centre
and States to make laws on ‘requisition and acquisition of immovable property’. The right to property too was initially
considered a fundamental right. The State began to show first signs of internal differentiation, through an emergent
independent Judiciary. Article 141 of the Constitution aided this separation, by explicitly stating that the law laid down by the
Supreme Court was the binding law of the land.

In fact, the battle lines between the Executive and the Judiciary were initially drawn over the right to property in 1951 itself.
After the much constitutional debate, it finally required an innovative heuristic of ‘the basic structure’ doctrine to resolve
matters. Subsequently, after the end of the Emergency and the installation of a new Government at the Centre, the right to
property was changed from a fundamental right to a legal one and no one could anymore challenge an acquisition of private
property on grounds of violation of Fundamental Rights.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in its first term (2004-09) sought to amend the act in 2007 introduced a
bill in parliament. It was referred to the standing committee on rural development, and subsequently, cleared by the group of
ministers in December 2008, just ahead of its eventual passage.

The 2007 amendment bill was passed in Lok Sabha as the “Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 2009” in February 2009,
and the UPA returned to power for a second term in May that year. However, with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha
soon after, the bill lapsed. The government did not have the required majority in the Rajya Sabha to pass the bill.

After the UPA came back to power with a bigger mandate, it sought to reintroduce the bill in 2011 as the “Land Acquisition
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011”. The bill proposed that for a private project, land could be acquired only if 80% of
the affected families agree to its acquisition. For a public-private partnership (PPP) project, 70% affected families must
agree. Besides, it proposed compensation for the affected parties—four times the market rate in rural areas and two times of
the market rate in urban areas.

It also sought to compensate artisans, traders and other affected parties through a one-time payment, even if they didn’t
own land in the area considered for acquisition. The bill was passed in August 2013 as “The Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013” and came into effect on 1 January 2014.

The current BJP government introduced amendments to previous Act which have been opposed by all political parties, Not
only the opposition parties but also other organization that traditionally supported Bharatiya Janta Party such as Mazdoor
Sangh, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh and Akhil Bhartiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram have come heavily against the amendments
proposed by the Narendra Modi lead NDA government including their ally Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP’s argument has been that the UPA’s land acquisition law makes it impractical for any public purpose and endlessly
delays infrastructure projects. While the amendments were passed in the lower house of the parliament where BJP enjoys
the vast majority, it has been unable to pass this in the Rajya Sabha. Instead, it took recourse in an ordinance to pass the
amendment to the bill in December 2014.

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894

The Land Acquisition Act of 1894, allows the Indian Government to acquire the private land in the country. Under this Act,
“Land Acquisition” means acquiring land for any public purpose by the government or its agency, as authorized by law, from
the individual landowners after paying a fixed compensation in lieu of losses incurred by these landowners due to the
surrendering of their land to the concerned government agencies.

According to this Act, the state has the power to exercise its right of eminent domain wherein it is the ultimate owner of all
the Land which it can acquire for public purposes after paying full compensation calculated on the basis of market value.
Despite numerous amendments to the Act after independence, the two basic principles of land acquisition, that is, a). Public
purposes and b). Compensation on Market Value remains unchanged. Although the Central Government determines the
content of the law, there can be regional variations in the procedural matters.
 As Land is a scarce resource and always has various holders claiming ownership, this Act provided a set of rules for convenient
settlement of such disputes. As per the 1894 Act, land can be acquired either under Part-II or Part-VII of the Act. While the former is
used when acquiring body is the central or state government or companies that are either owned, partly owned or controlled by
the State, the latter is used in case of private companies. Another important aspect is that, while land acquisition under Part-II is
entirely for “Public Purpose”, acquisition under Part-VII can be for both “Public Purpose” and “Non-public Purpose”, although the
scope for “Non-public Purpose” is very limited.

Land Acquisition Under Part-II

Under this part, acquisition process involves the following steps:

1. NOTIFICATION: The land acquisition process starts with issuing of a preliminary notification in the Official Gazette in two
locally circulated newspapers. Also, the collector is to ensure the “public notice of the substance of such notification” to be
given at a convenient place in the locality. This notice:

 Makes it lawful for an authorized officer to enter and inspect the land specified in the notice without the owner’s permission.
 Alerts the owner not to invest any money or labor on any improvements to his land without the Collector’s consent and

Informs the public not to acquire any interest in such land. FILING OF OBJECTIONS: Owners and the people who have interest in the land
are then required to file their objections if any within 30 days of the issuing of the notice. These objections are to be submitted to the collector
and the collector shall give an opportunity of being heard to all those people who raise objections. After hearing these objections, the
collectors submit a report to the government which contains all his recommendations and all the records of the proceedings. Then the
government takes a decision of acquisition based on the collector’s report. The right to file objections is regarded a substantial right when a
person’s property is threatened with the acquisition.

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