The World Bank Land and Poverty Conference is glad to welcome poster session presenters. You have been selected by the land conference team to present your poster to an interested audience at the conference. The posters will be on display at the Atrium of the World Bank main building on the whole Tuesday March 21 and Wednesday March 22. There will also be a prize awarded by the conference organizers to the best rated poster. Please view the instructions on the conference website on how to upload poster in your Conftool account. The deadline for submitting your poster is 11:59 PM on February 22, 2017 (Eastern Standard Time). The size requirements for posters are as follows: Size A1 vertical: 841 x 594 mm (height x width) or 33.1 x 23.4 inches (height x width) Please consult the following formatting template below when preparing your poster.

Eminent Domain – Factual Issues with Land Acquisition and Proposed Remedies for Sustainable Development in India Vilas D. Sonawane, Ashish V. Sonawane Bharatiya Agro Economic Research Center Vilas.sonawane09@gmail.com; avsonawane@gmail.com Introduction India is one of the fastest developing world economy. In order to uplift its vast population of 1.25 billion from the grab of poverty, Govt. of India has come up with several large infrastructure programs. It includes creation of roadways, industrial corridors and smart cities. No development is possible without availability of land. Therefore, India is undergoing massive change in the land management policy. Large chunk of land is getting transferred within various stakeholders in this development spree. Several issues surfaced due to noncompliance of land acquisition processes and misuse of power. These issues have raised an uproar in the country and have raised serious questions regarding land rights, colorable acts of state agencies & misuse of power by executives. These issues clearly present a need to establish a transparent mechanism in the land acquisition process, such that interests of every stakeholder impacted by the process shall be protected. Results Prescribed procedures laid down in the land acquisition laws were arbitrarily followed by the government officials entrusted in the land acquisition proceedings in several cases. In the case of Shendra, near Aurangabad (MH), forceful land acquisition proceedings were carried out by the authorities based on the false and fabricated documentation and standing crop, houses and wells were bulldozed. As a result several farmers committed suicide and some were paralyzed due to shock. In the case of Singur, more land was handed over to the company than required. Supreme Court highlighted that enquiry was not properly conducted as no opportunity of hearing was given to aggrieved persons and report given by the collector was held invalid. In the case of greater Noida, whole exercise of acquisition was designed to serve the interest of the builders and the veil of public purpose was used to mislead the people in believing that land was being acquired for a public purpose. The court concluded that, it was nothing but a designed attempt by the functionaries and officers of the State Government and the Authority in connivance with the builders to frustrate the right of the tenure holders. In the case of Shri Radheshyam , the Supreme Court held that “The acquisition vitiated due to violation of doctrine of equality as appellant’s parcels of land were acquired, while other similarly situated lands were left out from acquisition” In another judgment of Tukaram Krishna Joshi the Supreme Court held that “Right to property is more than that of fundamental right, as it is human right” In case of Maharashtra Irrigation projects, land was acquired in order to benefit the contractors. Often farmer’s agitation is termed against the development, on the contrary, it’s the farming community who is paying heavy price of the development on account of malpractices carried out in the land acquisition proceedings. Materials and methods This paper is based on the factual understanding of the issues related to the land acquisition proceedings. It is based on the documentation received through: Right to Information Act and study of the subject based on the authors experience in advocating for poor farmers in various litigations related to the exercise of Eminent Domain and subsequent land acquisition proceedings in the state of Maharashtra. It is also based on how the concept of right to property evolved in the Indian Constitution, since its adoption in the year 1950. Extensive research on various judgements given by Indian Supreme Court in defining Eminent Domain, striking down unfair and colorable land acquisition proceedings. Deep study and research of various legislations made up by state and central government in the filed of Land Laws and Land Management. Conclusions / Recommendation Land leasing should be encouraged instead of acquisition, as it would enable equitable partnership between the land owners and corporates. It is evident that illegalities and colorable acts are observed due to interference of political class, executives and industrialists in the land acquisition process. In order to protect the property rights and enable sustainable development, authors suggest below remedies: Policy to return unutilized land to the original owner should be framed The purpose of land use should not be changed without the consent of land owner a. Independent land acquisition authority to validate public purpose: Uniform and equitable norms should be formed for land identification and are strictly followed for the land acquisition Availability of documentation in public domain Civil Courts Jurisdiction should allowed to adjudicate litigations. Legal audit of land acquisition and its proper utilization via third party NGOs Acknowledgements Shri Dinesh Kulkarni of BKS & our Family Members. Indian Supreme Court, Smt. Medha Patkar, Literature cited Reported Judgements: Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority Vs Devendra Kumar and Others reported in 2011(12) SCC 375, Tukaram Joshi Case AIR 2012 SCW 6343, Singur Case AIR 2016 (Weekly) 4156, Official Gadgets of State of Maharashtra and Constitution of India