Monday 20 June 2011

New Land Acquisition Policy of Govt. of U.P. – A step forward in socio-economic development in the state

With an aim to protect the interest of land-owners and to provide them adequate compensation and other facilities in the event of acquisition of their land for the use of social and economic development projects across the state, the Govt. of U.P. has come out with a new land acquisition policy, after having threadbare discussions with the farmers and their agreement during the Kisan Panchayat held recently.  The new policy has come into effect on 2nd June, 2011.  A G.O. no. 632/1-13-11-20(29)2004 dated 02.06.2011 has been issued.
The new policy offers a much better compensation package than what was proposed in the earlier acquisition policy. The policy establishes final say to remain with the land-owners. Not only has the land-owner been empowered to seek a better price for his land through negotiations, he has also been given a choice to decide how he wishes to accept compensation, depending on his needs, his holding capacity and nature of project.

The salient features of the new policy are enunciated hereunder:
  • In acquisition of land for all purposes, the land shall be purchased directly from the land-owners at mutually agreed terms between the land-owners and the acquisition bodies in consonance with relevant rules/orders relating to the purchase of land.
  • Under the policy, the land acquisition has been divided into three parts;
    • For infrastructure projects in public sector such as highways, canal and power etc.
    • For planned industrial/urban development projects in public sector such as developed land, for residential needs of general public, for units in service sector or for small industrial units and other public utilities.
    • For planned industrial/urban development projects in private sector, outside the master plan area for public use such as housing, commercial-medium or heavy industry, service sector and infrastructure or for allotment of land in bulk to public sector.
  • The land acquisition, for infrastructure projects in public sector, shall be made under the provisions and process of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 but the compensation of land would be determined as per Karar Niyamawali, 1997. Affected land-owners would be given all the benefits admissible under Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy 2010 (as amended) of the State Government.
  • The land acquisition, for planned industrial/urban development projects in public sector, shall be made under the provisions and process of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and after issue of notification under section-4, the following options would be available to the land- owners :
    • Compensation amount would be determined by the acquiring authority. The affected land-owners would also be given all the benefits admissible under Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy 2010 (as amended) of the Government.
OR
    • 16% of the total acquired land in developed form, free of cost. This land would be transferable. Out of this, 50% shall be for residential use and 50% for non-residential use, such as industrial, institutional, commercial or mixed use. The policy determining corresponding percentage of non-residential use of land shall be framed by the acquiring authority itself. Further, the land will be exempted from development charge or land use change charges.
    • The affected land-owner can choose to retain some portion of developed land and part with balance portion of land by receiving compensation at the rate declared by the acquiring authority before the commencement of the project on mutually agreed terms.
    • Affected land-owner becoming landless shall be provided a developed residential land of the size of 40 sq. mtr. free of cost.
    • Besides, the following benefits shall also be admissible to the land-owners:
      1. Annual annuity of Rs.23,000/- per acre for 33 years, which would be increased annually at a fixed rate of Rs.800/- per acre.
      2. If a land-owner does not want to avail annuity on an annual basis, he will be provided a one-time rehabilitation grant at the rate of Rs.2.76 lakhs per acre.
      3. In the event of land acquisition for the use of company, the affected land- owner shall have an option to buy shares of the company of the value equivalent to 25% of one-time amount of rehabilitation grant. Such shares shall be allotted at the market value prevailing on the date of publication of notification under section-6 of the Land Acquisition Act or date of agreement, whichever is later.  If the company issues Initial Public Offer of shares after the date of land acquisition, the allotment of shares to opting land-owner shall be made at face value of the share equivalent to 25% of one-time amount of rehabilitation grant. 
      4. The affected land-owners, who have agricultural land and whose entire land has been acquired, will be compensated for their livelihood with one-time financial assistance of the amount equivalent to minimum agricultural wages of 5 years.
      5. The affected-land owners, who have agricultural land and whose entire land has not been acquired but have become marginal farmers, will be provided one-time financial assistance of the amount equivalent to minimum agricultural wages of 500 days.
      6. The affected land-owners, who have agricultural land and eventually have become small farmers, will be provided one-time financial assistance of the amount equivalent to minimum agricultural wages of 375 days.
      7. Each of the agriculture or non-agriculture labour families, in the project affected area, will be provided one-time financial assistance of the amount equivalent to minimum agricultural wages of 625 days.
      8. Each of the displaced families, in the project affected area, will additionally be compensated for their livelihood with one-time financial assistance of the amount equivalent to minimum agricultural wages of 250 days.
      9. Owners of the hereditary land in the record of Industrial Development Authorities shall continue to get additional facilities in accordance with prevailing practice.


  • The land acquisition, for planned industrial/urban development projects in private sector, shall be made under the following process; 
    • After due examination of the project, the notification shall be issued for entire land of the project under section-4 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
    • The compensation package shall be prepared by the developer on mutually agreed terms with the land-owners at the village level itself, where the concerned District Magistrate shall play the role of facilitator and in place of acquisition, the land shall be transferred to project developer directly from land-owner.
    • This package shall be finalized only after obtaining the consent of at-least 80% of the land-owners.
    • The following options would be available to the land-owners:
      • 16% of the total acquired land in developed form, free of cost. Such land would be transferable. Out of such developed land to be given to the land-owner, 50% shall be for residential use and 50% for non-residential use, such as industrial, institutional, commercial or mixed use. The policy determining corresponding percentage of non-residential use of land shall be framed by the acquiring authority itself.
OR
      • Out of the 16% of the developed land, the affected land-owner can choose to retain some portion of developed land and part with balance portion of land by receiving compensation at the rate declared by the acquiring authority before the commencement of the project on mutually agreed terms. In the absence of authority in the project affected area, the rates of compensation for infrastructure projects shall be declared by District Magistrate. Out of such developed land to be given to the land-owner, 50% shall be for residential use and 50% for non-residential use, such as industrial, institutional, commercial or mixed use. The policy determining corresponding percentage of non-residential use of land shall be framed by the acquiring authority itself. Further, the land will be exempted from development charge or land use change charges.
      • One member of each of the families becoming landless shall be provided a job according to his qualification in the developer company.
      • Besides, the land-owners will also be entitled to avail the benefits as explained above at point no. 1 to 9 in case of acquisition of land for planned industrial/ urban development projects in public sector.
      • The land of the remaining farmers, who do not agree for the above package, shall be acquired under the process of Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
      • If less than 80% land-owners of the project affected area give their consent, then the project will be reconsidered. 
  • Developer of the project will also construct a Kisan Community Centre and a Model School up to class 8 for providing educational opportunity to the wards of BPL families in every project affected village.
  • The developed land to be given to the land-owners as compensation shall be free from stamp duty on registration and registration fee.
  • If a land-owner buys land anywhere in the state from the land compensation amount so awarded within one year, he will be exempted to make payments towards stamp duty and registration fee.
Thus, the ultimate goal of this policy is to enable land owners to share the prosperity ushered in the state on account of implementation of development projects.
        N.C. Gupta
        Dy. Manager (Fin.)
        Udyog Bandhu

1 comment:

  1. It is a very informative article. Now I can say that I am well informed of a very good initiative taken by the government of Uttar Pradesh. I belong to Uttar Pradesh and it gives me immense pleasure in knowing that many a new things are happening in the state. But I believe that many more things are yet to be done, which are being done in other states like Maharasthra and Gujarat

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