Land Bill sent to joint committee of Parliament, will have 20 members from Lok Sabha, 10 from Rajya Sabha

Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday adopted a motion to refer the Land Bill to a joint committee of Parliament.

Speaking in the Lower House, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the government was "willing to send the Land Acquisition Bill to a joint committee of Parliament".

Later, speaking to reporters, Naidu said, "We have discussed with all political parties, then it was agreed upon that we will suggest it for joint committee," and added, "These are all make up Opposition (Congress), make up as in they want to show people that they are fighting," as per ANI.

Also speaking to the media outside Parliament, Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said, “A joint committee is to be constituted comprising 20 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha to assess the Land Bill.”

He also said, “Joint committee will work as per their system, will look into everything clause-wise."

“But I also feel that opinions of all stake holders of land acquisition will also be considered,” Singh added.

On the other hand, Congress leader  Mallikarjun Kharge said, "In a Parliamentary democracy, everyone’s view and public opinion outside Parliament should be taken into consideration."

The members of the Lok Sabha who will be on the joint committee include KV Thomas, Rajiv Satav (both Congress), Anand Rao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Kaltan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), B Mahtab (BJD), Mohammad Salim (CPI-M), Chirag Paswan (LJP) and SS Ahluwalia, Udit Raj, Anurag Thakur, Ganesh Singh (all BJP). The names of the 10 Rajya Sabha members will be announced later.

The joint committee of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will have to submit its report on the first day of Monsoon session on the bill which has already been passed by the Lower House.

The House saw acrimonious scenes and clashes during a short debate on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (second) Amendment Bill, which is aimed at altering the Act brought by UPA in 2013.

Earlier, a combative Rahul Gandhi led the Opposition attack on the government and vowed to oppose it inside and outside Parliament.

Asserting that Congress will fiercely resist within and outside Parliament the attempt of "suit-boot ki sarkar" to "grab" farmers' land, Rahul accused the government of being "in a hurry to pass this bill" as it wanted to acquire land for industrialist "friends" and crony capitalists, as per PTI.

The debate saw opposition parties like the Congress, AIADMK, TMC, BJD and the Left oppose the measure. They were joined by ruling NDA partner Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant and SAD's R S Brahmpura who asked the government to send it to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for detailed deliberations on its provisions.

The debate on the measure came only after acrimonious exchanges over procedures for the consideration and passage of the bill as it has already been passed by the House before it got stuck in Rajya Sabha during the first part of Budget session.

Stoutly opposing the bill, Rahul said its passage "will not happen so easily. If we are not able to stop it here (in Parliament), we will hit the streets against it outside."

The government had in December last brought an ordinance to amend the 2013 land law. It brought a bill in Parliament to replace the ordinance but it could not be passed by Rajya Sabha in the first part of the Budget session.

To facilitate re-promulgation of the ordinance, the government had prorogued Rajya Sabha, curtailing its Budget session after the first part ended on April 20.

(With Agency inputs)