Land Acquisition Process Made Easy — What Do You Need to Know?
The old Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was revised to Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill in 2011. The bill was aimed to usher in more transparency in land acquisition procedures, provide fair compensation, rehabilitation to the project-affected people. It mandated for organizations to rearrange benefits like land for employment, land, housing but one-time cash payments to people whose land was acquired.
2. Once verified, Land acquisition is done through Acquisition under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 or Private negotiations with the landowners or Acquisition through other Acts. the method of LARR is often integrated and tracked through an IT system for better management.
3. The mandatory social impact assessment (“SIA”) survey that must be done before acquisition becomes easier to conduct with a mobile app. An offline application can collect data to understand:
i. If the acquisition is going to be of any public usage,
ii. The number of families to be affected, displaced,
iii. Other properties which can be affected,
iv. Rehabilitation colony plan,
v. Overall cost and the good thing about the project, etc.
4. On conduction of SIA, an expert group from the government reviews the SIA report and decides whether the project can move or be rejected together with justifications
5. If approved, an initial acquisition notice together with details of the plot must be published within the official gazette and a couple of daily local newspapers in this locality for the general public
6. As a mandate, 60 days are provided to the final public for raising any objections before the collector
7. Next, Land survey reports, a close package for resettlement and rehabilitation have to be prepared by the Administrator, reviewed by the collector, and made public. The estimates are auto-calculated through software fed with the proper logic.
8. Publication of the ultimate declaration of the acquisition with a summary of the RnR scheme is completed afterward
9. Next, the land is marked, measured, and planned by the collector and project head
10. A final notice must be published for the people for compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement claims before the Collector. Claims have to be done within 60 days of final notice publication.
11. The Land acquisition award is then made to people claiming compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement. It is done after an inquiry by the collector. Payment details of the identical area are to be captured and stored by the organizations’ finance system.
12. Finally, the possession of land is taken by the Collector.
The long acquisition process might delay because of lapses in title verification, litigation, and disputes ending up in huge financial losses. Therefore, it’s essential to keep monitoring the steps for verifying the land title and in the subsequent acquisition. Central storage of all data, smooth approval and clearance processes, following tasks diligently can make the project hassle-free and faster. Even after the acquisition, it’s mandatory to store all documents and data in an exceedingly way it will be retrieved whenever required.
Credit — Sucheta Karmakar
Originally published at https://www.cyber-swift.com on December 2, 2021.
