TS Land Act to get changes; Assembly to meet on April 30

Hyderabad, April.27 : Taking cue from Centre, the State government has taken a decision to make some changes in 2013 Land Acquisition Act for avoiding delay in land acquisition and payment of compensation to the land donors or victims.

A special Assembly session will be conducted on April 30 at 11 am and Council session at 3 pm to make necessary amendments to this act. To conduct the business and to decide working hours, the  Business Advisory Committee will meet on April 29 at the Assembly. Speaker S Madhusudhan Chary will chair the meeting which is to be attended by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari, Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao, Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy and leaders from the Opposition parties.

 According to informed sources, the Chief Minister has asked the officials to make necessary arrangements for the special session of legislature. It is pertinent to note here that the Chief Minister, during a meeting in Delhi, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give Central nod for several issues, including the Land Acquisition Act. Modi has readily agreed to give his nod suggesting some changes and riders to the Act. Followed by Modi’s suggestion, KCR is keen to make required amendments of the bill that was already passed in the previous meeting. Subsequently Union Law Ministry has accepted reportedly to give its nod for the bill after making necessary changes.

To avoid delay in the land acquisition for the projects as some political parties moved courts, the state government has taken decision to make changes as suggested by the Centre. The Centre has suggested to make four changes such as to give more compensation not less than mentioned in the central act of 2013 to the land donors or victims. The government has decided to remove a clause that the 2016 land acquisition amendment act will come into force from the date of its publishing in the gazette.

Instead it will come into effect from the date of Telangana formation on June 2. Second change is to be made to remove a clause to fix the compensation after acquiring the land and instead give compensation as per amended market rate to the land losers. Third one is to talk to the land donors or losers on the compensation and give it more than what mentioned in the Central act and not less than it. District Collectors will take steps in this regard as per the Act. Fourth change is to take permission of Parliament and not the Centre for acquiring the land.