New Delhi, October 16
The new “investor-friendly” version of the controversial land Bill was today cleared by a group of ministers led by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The consent of two-thirds of landowners would now be required for acquiring land for public-private-partnership (PPP) and private projects.

According to sources, the revised version had no retrospective clause. There would be a cut-off date that would be decided later.

There was a view that there should be a “window” of retrospection in the Bill, but the general opinion is that the Bill should apply only for new acquisitions and past acquisitions, especially where compensation has not yet been paid or where the process is still going on, should not be included.

The earlier version that had gone before the standing committee of Parliament provided that the relief and rehabilitation would be effective on ongoing projects.

The major difference sorted out today was the clause regarding acquisition of land for private projects meant for public purpose and the PPP. While the original draft wanted consent of 80 per cent of land owners before any acquisition, the GoM decided to stick to consent of two-thirds of landowners.

Now that sharp differences among Cabinet colleagues on the issue have been sorted out, the long-delayed “Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill” would be sent to the Cabinet for introduction in Parliament in the forthcoming Winter Session. But it would first have to go through some fine tuning and tying of loose ends like determining the cut-off date.

“We have finalised the draft,” Pawar said after an hour-long meeting. “Each and every issue on which there were different views, we succeeded in bringing some understanding,” he added.

The SEZ Act, the Cantonments Act and the Works of Defence Act mentioned in the draft Bill would come under the new law as soon as it came into force. The remaining 13 Central laws concerning land acquisition would be required to come on a par with relief and rehabilitation clauses of the land acquisition law within one or two years of its coming into force. It has also been agreed to make it mandatory to get approval of the gram sabhas before any land is acquired, sources said.