Govt may again go in for ordinance on Land Bill

The government on Tuesday indicated it may go in for promulgation of the land ordinance for a record fourth time to maintain its "continunity" as there is no possiblity of the passage of a bill in Parliament to replace it before August 31, when the executive measure expires.

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday indicated it may go in for promulgation of the land ordinance for a record fourth time to maintain its "continunity" as there is no possiblity of the passage of a bill in Parliament to replace it before August 31, when the executive measure expires.

"Let us see. The time is till 31 August. Same is the case with the The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015. Some decision will have to be taken in time. The problem in land bill is that if if we do not reissue the ordinance, the 13 other Acts under which land will be acquired will lapse.

"There will be damage. Those who have to get jobs will not get it as it not in the old law. This will have to be done keeping in mind all the aspects," Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

The Land Acquisition Act, 2013 had exempted 13 Acts from its purview with the condition that they would be included under the purview of the Act within one year.

The NDA's Ordinance brought these 13 Acts under the new land law. If the Ordinance lapses on August 31, provisions of the new land law will no longer be applicable to land acquisition being done under these 13 laws and hence Modi government has been claiming that the ordinance was repromulgated thrice to maintain continuity.

The Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP SS Ahluwalia that looked into the land bill issue evolved a consensus on key issues including consent clause and social impact assessment provisions but differences remained on some.

The Committee has decided to give its report by Winter Session. So the govenrment has to take a call on the land ordinace issue this week.

"We do not want to take a unilateral decision because we do not have majority in Rajya Sabha. It is a fact. So we are trying to talk to other parties. The Committee has done some good work and I hope they are able to progress and come with some satsifactory solution," Naidu said.

While BJP has 11 members in the panel, its ally LJP, TDP and Shiv Sena have one member each.

In the Opposition while Congress has five members, TMC has two, BJD, CPI-M, JD-U, TRS, NCP, SP and BSP have one member each.

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