1. Need of Compliance to Legal and Social Frameworks for Land Based Investments in IndiaBy
Vilas D. Sonawane, Advocate, High Court
Vice Chairman, Bhartiya Agro Economic Research Center, New Delhi
&
Ashish V. Sonawane, B.E. LL.B.
Independent Scholar & Compliance Professional

2. Index Ancient Reference to Land Acquisition
Constitution on Land Acquisition
Land acquisition Act, 1894
Issues with Land Acquisition Proceedings
Challenges With Rehabilitation and Resettlement
RFCTLARR, 2013
Attempts To Dilute Provisions Of LARR, 2013
Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh
Samruddhi Marg, Maharashtra
Legal and Social Compliance
Parting Thoughts

3. Ancient Reference to Land Acquisition
त्यजेत् कुलार्थे पुरुषं ग्रामस्यार्थे कुलं त्यजेत् |
ग्रामं जनपदस्यार्थे आत्मार्थे पृथिवीं त्यजेत् ||
Mahabharata
Renounce one person for the sake of the family, A family for the sake of village; village for the sake of country and even the [kingdom of] earth for one’s liberation (Moksha).
During ancient time India was ruled by the principal of “Dharma”.
In context of law, “Dharma” also means righteous and dutiful behavior.
Every individual was bound to lead his life according to his duties.
This principal was equally applicable to the king as well as his subjects.
Wherever required sacrifices were in practice for the sake of larger good.
However, in such a system tremendous faith in the motives and dutifulness of kings were placed.

4. Land Acquisition : Indian Context
India – Home to 17% of global population
9% or 104 million of Indian population is Adivasis
~70% of rural population depending on the agriculture
Fastest growing economy with an ambition to uplift lives of vast underprivileged population
Number of infrastructure projects related to Roadways, Industrial Corridors, and Mega Cities
More than 450+ major land conflicts
~22 + million hector land affected by the conflicts
About 65 million people were displaced between 1950 and according to the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
Though a number of positive changes have happened in this space in recent past, still a lot needs to be done.

5. Constitution on Land Acquisition
Right to Property – Fundamental Right to Constitutional Right
Land Reforms Legislations
Art. 31 (1) and 31 (2) & topic of Land Acquisition
Number of Subsequent Amendments
25th Amendment : Payment, Instead of Compensation
Art. 300 A, 44th Amendment
7th Schedule
9th Schedule

6. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894
Shortfalls of the Land Acquisition Act, An act that governed Indian Land Acquisitions for the longest period of the time. It has number of deficiencies and was finally replaced by RCFLARR, Below are the shortcomings of this act.
Forced Acquisitions
No Safeguards
Silent on Resettlement & Rehabilitation displaced Persons
Urgency Clause
Low Rates of Compensation
High Volume of Litigations

7. Corruption & Colorable Land Acquisition
“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.”
- Greater Noida Judgment, 2011(12) SCC 375

8. Analysis of SC on Acquisition Proceedings

9. SC Judgements on Executive Actions

10. Analysis of SC on Acquisition Proceedings

11. Corruption & Colorable Land Acquisition
Some of our Experience in pleading for farmers in courts against colorable land acquisition
Shendra MIDC, Aurangabad - Maharashtra
100 Hector Land acquired without paying a single penny in compensation
Gross irregularities and fraud by executives, industrialists and politicos
Blank and Forged Documentation
Farmers were arrested and displaced, couple of farmers committed suicide
Long legal and social battle
Result: Victory for farmers as the land was de-notified and returned!
Kunthephal and Satra Potra, Maharashtra
Krishna – Godavari Basin – Irrigation Project
Executive and Political Corruption
Work for 6th phase of the project was allotted, when even 1st phase of the project is under dispute between interstate battle of Maharashtra and Karnataka
Land acquired and farmers displaced
Interim relief given, legal battle is on

12. SC on Rehabilitation N.D. Jayal v. Union of India, 2004 (9) SCC 362
“Right to property is not only constitutional or a statutory right but also a human right and human rights are considered to be in the realm of individual rights which are gaining an even greater multifaceted dimension”
“In a welfare State, statutory authorities are bound, not only to pay adequate compensation, but there is also a legal obligation upon them to rehabilitate such persons.”
“The appellants have been deprived of their legitimate dues for about half a century. In such a fact situation, we fail to understand for which class of citizens the Constitution provides guarantees and rights in this regard and what is the exact percentage of the citizens of this country, to whom constitutional/statutory benefits are accorded, in accordance with the law.”
- Tukaram Kana Joshi v. Maharashtra IDC
(2013) 1 SCC 353
“The overarching projected benefits from the dam should not be counted as an alibi to deprive the fundamental rights of oustees. They should be rehabilitated as soon as they are uprooted. And none of them should be allowed to wait for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation should take place before six months of submergence.”
N.D. Jayal v. Union of India, 2004 (9) SCC 362
“For people whose lives and livelihood are intrinsically connected to the land, the economic and cultural shift to a market economy can be traumatic. The fundamental right of a farmer to cultivation is a part of right to livelihood. Agricultural land is the foundation for a sense of security and freedom from fear. Assured possession is a lasting source for peace and prosperity.”
State of M.P. v. Narmada Bachao Andolan 2011 (7) SCC 639

13. Unnecessary Litigations
“The State/authority often drags "poor uprooted claimants“ even for payment of a paltry amount up to the Hon'ble Supreme Court, wasting the public money in such luxury litigation without realizing that the poor people cannot afford the exorbitant costs of litigation and, unfortunately, no superior officer of the State is accountable for such unreasonable conduct.”
Bhusawal Municipal Council
“The Supreme Court has decried the attitude of the State Authorities in even acknowledging the existence of the problem. The Supreme Court has observed that sometimes, the cause of the problem is bureaucratic inactivity and apathy; sometimes executive excesses that cause the problem and sometimes the problem is caused by the ostrich-like reaction of the executive.”
-Swaraj Abhiyan v. UoI and Ors (2016) 7 SCC 498

14. Sovereign Immunity
No civilized system can permit an executive to play with the people of its country and claim that it is entitled to act in any manner as it is sovereign. The modern social thinking of progressive society and the judicial approach is to do away with the archaic State protection and place the State or the Government on par with any other juristic legal entity. The movement now is from "State irresponsibility to state responsibility.“
N. Nagendra Rao v. State of A.P.
(1994) 6 SCC 205
“Administrative sclerosis leading to flagrant infringements of fundamental rights cannot be corrected by any other method open to the judiciary to adopt. The right to compensation is some palliative for the unlawful acts of instrumentalities which act in the name of public interest and which present for their protection the powers of the State as a shield.”
- Rudul Sah v. State of Bihar, (1983) 4 SCC 141
(Cont.)

15. Sovereign Immunity
"No one can suppose that the executive will never be guilty of the sins that are common to all of us. You may be sure that they will sometimes do things which they ought not to do: and will not do things that they ought to do. But if and when wrongs are thereby suffered by any of us what is the remedy? Our procedure for securing our personal freedom is efficient, our procedure for preventing the abuse of power is not. Just as the pick and shovel is no longer suitable for the winning of coal, so also the procedure of mandamus, certiorari, and actions on the case are not suitable for the winning of freedom in the new age. They must be replaced by new and up-to date machinery, by declarations, injunctions and actions for negligence.... This is not the task for Parliament ... The courts must do this. Of all the great tasks that lie ahead this is the greatest. Properly exercised the new powers of the executive lead to the welfare state; but abused they lead to a totalitarian state. None such must ever be allowed in this country.” -Lord Denning, in first Hamlyn Lecture in 1949 under the title "Freedom under the Law”

16. RFCTLARR, 2013 Public Purpose Social Impact Assessment (SIA) R&R
Retrospective Operation
Multiple Checks and Balances
Special Safeguards for Tribal Communities and Other Disadvantaged Groups:
Safeguards against displacement
Compensation for livelihood losers
Consent
Caps on Acquisition of Multi-Crop and Agricultural Land
Return of Unutilized Land
Exemption from Income Tax and Stamp Duty
Share in appreciated land value

17. Dilutions in RFCTLARR, 2013 SIA: Consent:
Attempts made by the Indian states by using power to make rules and parallel legislations.
SIA:
Curtailed the scope of SIA and Reduce Time for Study.
Reduce the notice period for conducting a public hearing.
In some states, the provision for the SIA is done away with in its entirety
Consent:
Some states have decided to do away with consent entirely. questioning the very objectives of the Central Act.
Gujarat has in fact included all the changes that were being proposed in the amendment ordinance into State Rules.
There are also changes in the quorum of the Gram Sabha (village assembly) and combined consent clauses incorporated by some states.
(Cont.)

18. Dilutions in RFCTLARR, 2013 Compensation:
The deviations among the states with respect to the determination of the multiplying factor defeats the purpose of having a fixed multiplying factor.
The amount of compensation that will be available across the states will not be uniform, especially in light of the changes made by states such as Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Tripura
Certain states have the same multiplying factor for both urban and rural areas
Food Security – Multi Crop Land:
No uniformity in fixed limit of multi crop land
No clarity as to what the “exceptional circumstances” or the “demonstrable last resorts” which are requirements as per the RFCTLARR Act, 2013
(Cont.)

19. Dilutions in RFCTLARR, 2013 Offences by GOVT officials:
Requirement for the Government sanction before prosecution of Govt employee has been proposed
Retrospective Application : Additional conditions specified for exclusion from calculation of 5 years time period
Return of unutilized land : Additional Protection on the Ground of period specified at the time of setting up the project

20. Amaravati – Andhra Pradesh
Construction of a new capital city on the Banks of Krishna River
Land Acquisition is done by a new method of “Land Pooling” as against LARR Act, 2013
Farmers to get 25-30% (commercial and residential plots) developed portion of the acquired land in return
Compensation against land acquired is expected to be paid by way of increased prices of developed land portion returned
Annual payment to farmers against loss of agricultural income for a period of 10 years
One time loan waver up to 1.5 Lakh Rupees
Interest free loans up to 25 L for affected families for self employment
33K Acers of 36K Acers of the land already acquired by voluntary Land Pooling scheme
(Cont.)

21. Amaravati – Andhra Pradesh
Land Pooling is a positive step in inclusion of the farming community in the development process, however clarity on following points is required:-
55% of the acquired land is fertile and multi-crop land. It is considered as the Food Bowl for the region. It is a big concern over Food Security for the region. Concreate plans are required to mitigate this threat.
Farmers of 2 villages did not participate in the Land Pooling scheme and hence LARR, Act 2013 has been invoked for the acquisition proceedings
Allegations are raised in the process of classifying land parcels - in irrigated and dry lands. Also in allotment of residential and commercial plots, and of preferential treatment in allocation process.
Delays in the execution schedule is a concern for the farmers, and farmers are demanding to increase period of annual compensation from 10 years to 15 years

22. Samruddhi Marg – Maharashtra
Land Pooling
25-30% of land to be returned
Annual compensation ranging 30-60K Rs/Acer/Year, with 10% annual increase for farmers
Free vocational training to a member
Direct Purchase
Private negotiations to fix price
Agricultural / Non development zone, Rural and Urban lands to get up to 5x,3.75x and 2.5x of current valuations respectively
Building of Super Connectivity Express Way covering 750 KM of distance between cities Nagpur and Mumbai
8,450 hectares of around 21,000 acres of land to be acquired
Several industrial hubs and new smart cities are planned across the high way
In order to achieve speedy execution of the project, process of Land Pooling and Direct Land Purchase schemes are invoked
Under Direct Land Purchase Scheme - Farmers are expected to get compensation anywhere between 2.5 to 5 times current valuation of their land parcels
Under Land Pooling scheme – Farmers would get back 25% of their land in the form of developed land in smart cities and industrial hubs
(Cont.)

23. Samruddhi Marg – Maharashtra
Land pooling mechanism followed for the acquisition is a positive step in this project as well. However, the policy shall be fine tuned as per the following observations.
Transparent policy on location & allotment of the developed plots must be presented
Transparency and consistency in classification and compensation against the land parcels shall be maintained. In certain cases, pricing of the land seems to be inflated by using procedural loopholes
Standard communication policy of the government officials shall be formulated and executives must adhere to it. As the farmers are no where close to make equal bargaining with the might of Government
Utility plans and executions for the un-used industrial land shall be made public. Such actions would enhance the land utility
(Cont.)

24. Legal & Social Compliance
Central Compliance Body
Require-ments
Social Compliance
Planning
Project Execution
Financial Compliance
Ethical & Legal Compliance
Establishment of comprehensive compliance mechanism governed under an “Independent Compliance Body” would be a progressive step in achieving “Sustainable Land Based Development”

25. विश्वंभरा वसुधानी प्रतिष्ठा हिरण्यवक्षा जगतो निवेशनी । वैश्वानरं बिभ्रती भूमिरग्निमिन्द्रऋषभा द्रविणे नो दधातु॥६॥
- Bhoomi Sukta, Atharva Veda
Vishvambharaa Vasudhaanii Pratisstthaa Hirannya-Vakssaa Jagato Niveshanii | Vaishvaanaram Bibhratii Bhuumir-Agnim-Indra-Rssabhaa Dravinne No Dadhaatu ||6||
6.1: (Salutations to Mother Earth) She is Vishwambhara (All-Bearing), She is Vasudhaa (Producer of all Wealth), She is Pratishtha (Foundation on which we live), She is Hiranyavaksha (of Golden Bosom) and the Dwelling Place of the World, 6.2: She holds the Vaishvanara (The Universal Fire) within Her, the Fire which empowers Indra and Rishabha; May the Mother Earth bestow on us (the splendor of that Fire and make us strong).

26. ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः । सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् । ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
(Om, May All become Happy, May All be Free from Illness. May All See what is Auspicious, May no one Suffer. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.)
from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

27. Thank you! Adv. Vilas D. Sonawane Ashish V. Sonawane, B.E. LL.B.
Vice Chairman,
Bhartiya Agro Economic Research Center, New Delhi.
Cell:
NyayaNiti.com
Ashish V. Sonawane, B.E. LL.B.
Independent Scholar and Compliance Professional. M. P. Law College
Cell: