Shillong: The Meghalaya government has
decided to write to the Center to exclude the state from
the purview of the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation &
Resettlement Bill, 2011 (LARR) as it was under the Sixth
Schedule of the Constitution.
"The government will write to the Standing Committee
of Parliament to exclude the state from the ambit of the LARR
as there would be overlapping of powers and jurisdiction of
the new Act and the Sixth Schedule," Revenue Minister RC
Laloo told reporters after a cabinet last evening.
He pointed out that the state already had the
Meghalaya Land Transfer (Regulation) Act 1971 which barred
non-tribals from buying land in the state.
The land ownership pattern in the state was also
different where the government did not own the land.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and
influential NGOs in the state have also objected to the LARR,
if implemented without amendments.
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 7 and
proposed a unified legislation for acquisition of land and
rehabilitation mechanism for the affected.
It will replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
PTI
