The new land Acquisition Act aiming to provide just and fair compensation to farmers will come into force from January 1, 2014, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday. The Act would be notified from April 1, 2014.
“Sooner we notify the Act, lesser the uncertainty,” he told reporters and announced the decision to implement The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 on New Year day replacing the archaic 119-year-old legislation.The new law received the assent of the President on September 27.
Ramesh said that some State governments were of the view that if the law is notified during the beginning of the new financial year, they would get “some time” to establish necessary infrastructure for its implementation.
With the Centre deciding to implement the Act early, state governments will have to soon set up at least six bodies including the State-level land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority in each state to hear disputes arising out of projects where land acquisition has been initiated by the state or its agencies.
As per the draft rules released by the Ministry on Monday, the state governments should take immediate steps to create and establish the State Social Impact Assessment Unit, the office of the Commissioner Rehabilitation and Resettlement and the State level Monitoring Committee.
For each project, the state government should also constitute bodies including the Expert Group to appraise Social Impact Assessment, the office of the Administrator Rehabilitation and Resettlement and Project level Committees.
All these mechanisms should be put in place before December to implement the Act from January 1.
At the Central level too, a National Monitoring Committee should be constituted for reviewing and monitoring the implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement schemes or plans under the new Act.
Ramesh said the State Revenue Ministers’ conference would be convened soon to discuss the implementation of the Act.