LAND LAWS

PROJECT REPORT
ON THE TOPIC:
“HISTORY, OBJECT, SCOPE, APPLICABILITY AND
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE RIGHT TO
COMPENSTATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND
ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT
ACT OF 2013: WITH RESPECT TO DEFINITON OF PUBLIC
PURPOSE”

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

MS. SUGANDHA MA’AM HARWINDER KUMAR
UILS B.A. LL.B (hons.)
SECTION – A
34/17

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S. No. Topic Page No.

1. HISTORY 4

2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAND 5-6

ACQUISITION ACT OF 1894 AND THE RIGHT
TO COMPENSTATION AND TRANSPARENCY
IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION
AND RESETTLEMENT ACT OF 2013: WITH
RESPECT TO DEFINITON OF PUBLIC
PURPOSE

3. OBJECTS AND REASONS 7-8

4. SOME SALIENT FEATURES OF THE RIGHT TO 9

FAIR COMPENSATION AND TRANSPARENCY
IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION
AND RESETTLEMENT ACT OF 2013
5. SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY 10-18

6. REFERENCES 19

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Ms. Sugandha Ma’am, who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project of Land and Rent Laws on the Topic “HISTORY,
OBJECT, SCOPE, APPLICABILITY AND SALIENT FEATURES OF THE RIGHT TO
COMPENSTATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION
AND RESETTLEMENT ACT OF 2013: WITH RESPECT TO DEFINITON OF PUBLIC
PURPOSE”, who also helped me in completing my project. I came to know about so many new
things and I am relay thankful to her. Secondly, I would like to thank my parents and friends who
helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

Harwinder Kumar

B.A. LL.B (hons.)

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 HISTORY
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 replaces the Land Acquisition Act,
1894. Under the Act of 1894, the Land was acquired through the exercise of
‘Doctrine of Eminent Domain', which denotes the power of a sovereign to acquire
private property for public use through the compulsory purchase leaving limited
scope for the Land Owner/s to convey their disagreement to sell their land or
negotiate the price of their land.
Initially the power of Eminent Domain was exercised to acquire land for ‘Public
Purpose’ such as Roads, Railways, Canals and ‘Social Purpose’ like setting up of
State-run Schools and Hospitals. The LA Act of 1894, however, added the words ‘or
company’ to ‘public purpose’ to distinguish land acquisition by the State for Public
Purpose from land acquisition by the state for a company. Until 1933, the expression
‘companies’ was restricted to Railway Companies. The ambit of the Act of 1894 was
significantly expanded by number of amendments in 1962 that permitted acquisition
of a company ‘which is engaged, or which is taking steps for engaging itself, in any
industry or work which is for public purpose.
The Amendments of 1984 in the Act of 1894 extinguished any differentiation
between acquisition by state for public purpose from acquisition for private
enterprise by amended section 4 of the Act of 1894. The courts have interpreted the
amendment to mean that any notification of acquisition issued under section 4, need
not specify that whether the acquisition is for ‘public purpose’ or ‘for a company’.
The obvious implication of such an amendment being brought by the state was that
is lead to the state acquiring land for the benefit of the companies without paying
due regard to the rural or tribal population. This is in turn, lead to major protests by
the rural and tribal population. The unrest created by the amendment was one the
reasons for the state to replace the Act of 1894 by the Act of 2013.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAND ACQUISITION ACT
OF 1894 AND THE RIGHT TO COMPENSTATION AND
TRANSPARENCY IN LAND ACQUISITION,
REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT ACT OF 2013:
WITH RESPECT TO DEFINITON OF PUBLIC PURPOSE

o As discussed earlier, under the Act of 1894 the Land was acquired through
the exercise of Doctrine of Eminent Domain. Under the Act of 2013, the
Government continues to have the power to acquire the Land through the
exercise of Eminent Domain. However, it is greatly restricted now. Where the
Land is acquired for Public-Private Partnerships and Private Companies,
purchase of land is encouraged through private negotiations.
o Under the LA Act of 1894, Public Purpose had an expansive definition, such
that Government was empowered to acquire land by stating the Public
Purpose. It also included acquisition of land for scheme of development
sponsored by the government or with the prior approval of the government,
by local authority. The present Act of 2013 has an exhaustive definition of
‘public purpose’ which is less likely to be abused.
o The Act of 1894, provided for payment of compensation to Landowner/s. The
Act of 2013 recognizes the right to compensation of not only the Landowner/s
but displaced persons, persons earning livelihood from such land, in short
persons interested in the Land.
o The concept of Rehabilitation and Resettlement for displaced persons has
been given a statutory recognition for the first time in this Act. Enhanced
compensation which is closer to the real value of the land is to be paid to the
Land losers.
o Social Impact Assessment Study is a new exercise introduced in the new Act.
Under the Act of 1894, the Collector exercised unfettered powers in notifying
any land for Acquisition. Panchayats and Municipalities had no role to play
in determining as to which land was to be acquired. The Act of 2013 has
empowered the people directly and through their representatives to be
informed about the purpose of acquisition of land and insist on being
consulted before notifying the Land for acquisition.

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o Under the Act of 1894, the collector sometime abused the urgency clause to
acquire the land. Notifications invoking emergency were invoked
mechanically, even where no urgency was involved. Under this Right to
object was taken away from the land losers. In many cases the land remained
unutilized even after acquisition, which proved that there was no apparent
need to invoke the urgency clause. The Act of 2013 has restricted the use of
urgency clause to only two conditions: - Factors affecting National Security
and Defense of India or Natural Calamities. Further prior to taking possession
of such land, 82% compensation is required to be paid up-front. Further, extra
compensation is to be paid on invocation of urgency clause.

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 OBJECTS AND REASONS
Preamble of any Act conveys its object. The preamble of this Act reads as follows:
“An Act to ensure, in consultation with institutions of local self-government and
Gram Sabhas established under the Constitution, a humane, participative, informed
and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of
essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance to the
owners of the land and other affected families and provide just and fair
compensation to the affected families whose land has been acquired or proposed to
be acquired or are affected by such acquisition and make adequate provisions for
such affected persons for their rehabilitation and resettlement and for ensuring that
the cumulative outcome of compulsory acquisition should be that affected persons
become partners in development leading to an improvement in their post-acquisition
social and economic status and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto”
A close look at the preamble indicates that the government is conscious that the need
of the hour for the country is industrialization, development of essential
infrastructure and urbanization, for which acquiring of land becomes a necessity.
The government is also aware of the fact that the practice acquiring land through the
exercise of Eminent domain is draconian and needs to be avoided. Land should be
acquired after giving due hearing and taking into account the objections raised by
the landowners and the persons interested or their representatives.
Adequate compensation should be paid to the people who owned the land and
adequate provisions should be made for rehabilitation and resettlement of people
whose livelihood is dependent upon the land that is to be acquired. The development
achieved on account of land acquisition should not be limited only to the industry
but must be equally shared with the affected people.
In initial format of the Act presented to the parliament in September, 2011
involvement of local Self-Government and Gram Sabha was missing in the
Preamble. Conventionally the collector in exercise of the Eminent Domain, solely,
determined which land would be required. The standing committee of the
Parliament strongly recommended the insertion of elements of consultation of the
local self-Government and Gram Sabha in the process of making the decision of
acquisition of land. The Standing committee of the parliament in making this
suggestion was guided by the factor that article 243G and 243W parts IX and IXA
of the Constitution of India provide for the role of Institutions of self-government

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for land related matters and development. 243ZD provide for constitution of District
Planning committee. Standing committee recommended that the process of land
acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement be made participative, transparent
and pro-people. In accordance with the letter and spirit of articles 243G and 243W
of the constitution. The government fairly accepted the recommendations of
consultation with Local Institutions of self-government. The Preamble on paper,
appears to be strong and well-intended. However, it needs to be seen as to how it is
implemented at ground realities. The Act does not provide solution to a situation
where the representatives of people reject the proposal of the land acquisition.

The Preamble has clearly indicated that the process of acquisition should be humane,
participative, transparent and informed to the affected persons/ families. While
drafting this Act, the convenience of the people was of utmost importance to the
Legislature, therefore, it has been categorically stated in the Preamble in process of
acquisition should be carried out in such a fashion that it causes least disturbance to
the land owners and affected family. First schedule to the Act provides for the
minimum compensation package to be given to the land losers. Second Schedule to
the Act provides for elements of rehabilitation and resettlement. Third schedule to
the act provides for infrastructure facilities to be provided in the resettlement area.
The elements of first and second schedules are designed to ensure that the object of
Just and fair compensation to the Affected family as stated in the Preamble is
achieved.

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 SOME SALIENT FEATURES OF THE RIGHT TO FAIR
COMPENSATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN LAND
ACQUISITION, REHABILITATION AND RESETTLEMENT ACT
OF 2013
o New integrated legislation dealing with land acquisition and Rehabilitation
and Resettlement.
o Exhaustive definition of public purpose in infrastructure and has been given;
o Special provisions made to ensure food security;
o Minimum compensation for loss of land fixed;
o Minimum rehabilitation and resettlement entitlement have been fixed
o Exemption of 13 Central Acts specified in the fourth schedule from the
ambit of the Act;
o Land acquisit ion and Rehabilitation and resettlement provisions will apply
when the government acquires land for itself, public sector, private
enterprise, public private partnership project;
o Land is to be acquired for private companies or public private partnership
projects, Consent of 80% and 70% of the landowners is to be obtained,
respectively;
o Limited scope of invocation of urgency clause;
o Special provisions have been made for scheduled caste and Scheduled tribe
o Enhanced role of the local self-government under the Act. Role of the
collector has been reduced in determining the public purpose;
o Social impact assessment to be carried out for all government aided land
acquisition;
o Stringent and comprehensive penalties regime for companies and
government;
o Flexibility is given to States on various subject; and
o Retrospective applicability of the Act to proceedings initiated under the
Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

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 SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY

The Act of 2013 broadly covers two kinds of acquisition: -

o Government Aided Acquisition
o Acquisition Through Private Negotiations
Safeguards have been provided in this Act to prevent the abuse of eminent domain
by the government. Comprehensive detailing has been done in this act with regard
to the provisions for social impact assessment land acquisition amount of
compensation consent and Rehabilitation resettlement.

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Section 2 of the act of 2013 provides for the applicability of the Act. It provides for
issues relating to acquisition, compensation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
relating to the land wherein government has aided the acquisitions.
The land under this section could be acquired by the government for three classes of
land seekers, namely.
o Government for itself including public sector undertaking
o Public private partnership subject to ownership of land continuing to vest in
the government
o Private companies
The present Act describes different sets of rules for each of the above-mentioned
class of land seekers.

s. 3(e) ―appropriate Government means, —

(i) in relation to acquisition of land situated within the territory of, a State, the State Government;
(ii) in relation to acquisition of land situated within a Union territory (except Puducherry), the
Central Government;

(iii) in relation to acquisition of land situated within the Union territory of Puducherry, the
Government of Union territory of Puducherry;

(iv) in relation to acquisition of land for public purpose in more than one State, the Central
Government, in consultation with the concerned State Governments or Union territories; and

(v) in relation to the acquisition of land for the purpose of the Union as may be specified by
notification, the Central Government:

Provided that in respect of a public purpose in a District for an area not exceeding such as may be
notified by the appropriate Government, the Collector of such District shall be deemed to be the
appropriate Government;

S. 3(p) ―land includes, --

benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything
attached to the earth;

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 s.3 (r) ―land owner includes any person,—

(i) whose name is recorded as the owner of the land or building or part thereof, in the
records of the authority concerned; or
(ii) any person who is granted forest rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007) or
under any other law for the time being in force; or
(iii) who is entitled to be granted Patta rights on the land under any law of the State
including assigned lands; or
(iv) any person who has been declared as such by an order of the court or Authority;

GOVERNMENT ACQUISITION FOR ITSELF

The land can be acquired by the appropriate government for its own use and hold by
two methods. The first is that the Land is required for Public Purpose and the second
is a kind of residuary power of the appropriate government, wherein it may acquire
land for own use and hold without fulfilling the test of Public Purpose. In the First
case the appropriate government subjects itself to all the provisions relating to Land
Acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, prescribes under this
Act. In the Second case the government is empowered to acquire land even for such
purposes which do not fall under the exhaustive definition of Public Purpose. Further
in case of such an acquisition no consent of the family, whose land or other
immovable property is being acquired, is necessary.

GOVERNMENT AIDED ACQUISTION FOR PUBLIC PRIVATE

PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
The appropriate government can acquire land for Public Private Partnership Projects
subject to the fulfillment of following conditions:
o The Land is needed for a Public Purpose as defined in section 2(1) of The Act;
o The ownership of the land continues to vest in the government; and
o Prior consent of 70% of the affected families as defined in clause (i) and (v)
of the section 3 has been obtained.

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Upon the fulfilment of the abovementioned conditions, the provisions of land
acquisition, consent, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlements prescribed
under this Act shall apply.
Consent of the affected family is a concept that applies only to land acquired for the
benefit of Public Private Partnership and Private companies. The Act has not
prescribed method obtaining consent; the same shall be prescribed by the appropriate
government. Affected family for the purpose of obtaining consent would be
following.
o owner of acquired land for acquired immovable property
o those lands that have been granted by the central and state government under
any of its scheme
With an object of expediting the process of acquisition it has been prescribed that
the process of obtaining consent has to be carried out along with the Social Impact
Assessment study.

s. 3(c) ―affected family includes—

(i) a family whose land or other immovable property has been acquired;

(ii) a family which does not own any land but a member or members of such family may be agricultural
labourers, tenants including any form of tenancy or holding of usufruct right, share-croppers or
artisans or who may be working in the affected area for three years prior to the acquisition of the land,
whose primary source of livelihood stand affected by the acquisition of land;

(iii) the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have lost any of their forest rights
recognised under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007) due to acquisition of land;

(iv) family whose primary source of livelihood for three years prior to the acquisition of the land is
dependent on forests or water bodies and includes gatherers of forest produce, hunters, fisher folk
and boatmen and such livelihood is affected due to acquisition of land;

(v) a member of the family who has been assigned land by the State Government or the Central
Government under any of its schemes and such land is under acquisition;

(vi) a family residing on any land in the urban areas for preceding three years or more prior to the
acquisition of the land or whose primary source of livelihood for three years prior to the acquisition of
the land is affected by the acquisition of such land;

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 GOVERNMENT AIDED ACQUISITION FOR PRIVATE
COMPANIES

The process of acquisition of Land by the appropriate government for the private
companies is similar to the process stated for PPP. The only points of difference
between the two are as follows.
o land need not be owned by the government
o Prior consent is needed from 80% of the affected families
The process of land acquisition, consent, compensation, rehabilitation and
resettlement prescribed for the PPP Shall be pari materia applied to private
companies.

Section 3(j) ―company means—

(i) a company as defined in section 3 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956)

other than a Government company;
(ii) a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860)
or under any corresponding law for the time being in force in a State;

ACQUISITION THROUGH PRIVATE NEGOTIATION

Section 46 of the Act of 2013 deals with such kind of acquisitions. Acquisition
through private negotiations is in contrast with the acquisition through the exercise
of eminent domain. Government aided acquisitions are subjected to several
restrictions with regard to Social Impact Assessment, compensation, rehabilitation
and resettlement. Acquisition through private negotiation is a voluntary transfer of
land, therefore it is not subjected to similar restrictions. However, since this Act is
aimed to balance the respective interests of land losers and land seekers, some of the
restrictions, applicable to the government aided acquisition, have been extended to
purchase of land through private negotiation

Restrictions would be attracted in the following conditions:

o Persons other than specified persons are seeking to purchase the land.
o The size of the land intended to be purchased is above the threshold limit
fixed by the appropriate government.
o Payment of rehabilitation and resettlement cost has to be made.

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The land could be brought for Public Purpose or any other purpose. There cannot be
a Universal formula for determining what would be the prescribed area limit,
appropriate government shall have to formulate the limits for the acquisitions in the
state. Different states may have different area limits and within the state there might
be different limits as the appropriate governments will vary.

PUBLIC PURPOSE

One of the major limitations of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 was that the
expression ‘public purpose’ was not defined in the statute. What would fall within
the ambit of Public Purpose was left to the discretion of Collector. This left room for
abuse of power. One of the reasons for protesting against the old Act was this as
well.
The expression Public Purpose has been defined in section 3(za) of the Act of 2013
as the activities specified under sub-section (1) of section 2. The meaning of public
purpose is common to all acquisitions. These can be broadly classified into the
following categories:

STRATEGIC PURPOSE VITAL TO NATIONAL SECURITY

o Strategic purpose relating to central armed forces including Navy, Army, Air
Force and Central Paramilitary forces
o Any work vital to National Security
o Any work vital to Defence of India
o Any work vital to State Police and Safety of People

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Industrialization and development of essential infrastructure is one of the aims of the
Act. Clause (b) of section 2(1) provides for a comprehensive list of what would
constitute infrastructure projects. The list is as follows:

o All activities or items listed in the notification of the Government of India in

the Department of Economic Affairs (Infrastructure Section) number
13/6/2009-INF, dated the 27th March, 2012, excluding private hospitals,
private educational institutions and private hotels;
The Notification of the government is as follows:-

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 o Projects involving agro-processing, supply of inputs to agriculture,
warehousing, cold storage facilities, marketing infrastructure for agriculture
and allied activities such as dairy, fisheries, and meat processing, set up or
owned by the appropriate Government or by a farmers' cooperative or by an
institution set up under a statute;
o Project for industrial corridors or mining activities, national investment and
manufacturing zones, as designated in the National Manufacturing Policy;
o Project for water harvesting and water conservation structures, sanitation.
o Project for Government administered, Government aided educational and
research schemes or institutions;
o project for sports, health care, tourism, transportation or space programme;
o any infrastructure facility as may be notified in this regard by the Central
Government and after tabling of such notification in Parliament;

PROJECT FOR PROJECT AFFECTED FAMILIES

These include the projects that have been undertaken to resettlement and rehabilitate
the project affected families. Such projects would include activities for individual
displaced people, like constructing houses for those who have lost their houses in
the process of acquisition, providing infrastructure facilities and amenities for
resettling the population in new village or colony.

PROJECT FOR HOUSING CLASSIFIED INCOME GROUPS

To cope up with growing urbanization, it is necessary to construct houses for
people shifting to cities. Acquisition of land for constructing built-up houses for
variable income groups would be a public purpose. The appropriate government
may from time to time notify such income group that will qualify under this category.

PROJECT FOR PLANNED DEVELOPMENT

Clause (e) of Section 2(1) is applicable to acquisition of land for weaker section in
rural and urban areas for three purposes;
o Project for planned development
o Improvement in sites in village or urban areas
o Provisions of land for residential purpose.

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Rural and Urban areas respectively have not been defined in the Act. On a broad
understanding and area falling within the municipal zone would be the urban area
and the area beyond the municipal zone would be rural area.

PROJECT FOR RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES FOR POOR AND LANDLESS

where the land is to be acquired for residential purpose for the following class of
people it will constitutes public purpose-
o Poor
o Landless
o Person residing in area affected by natural calamity
o Displaced affected by reason of implementation of any scheme undertaken
by the government local authority or a corporation are controlled by which
state

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 REFERENCES

BOOK/S REFERRED
• Anupam Srivastava and Monika Srivastava, Guide to Right to Fair
Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act. 2013, CCH (Wolters Kluwer), edn. 2014
BARE ACTS REFERRED
• Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. 2013
• Land Acquisition Act, 1894
WEBSITES REFERRED
• Dea.gov.in (Department of Economic Affairs)

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