Amended Telangana Land Acquisition Bill Passed In Within Min

The Telangana Legislative Assembly and Council today passed the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Telangana Amendment) Bill, 2016, amending the original bill once again following the suggestions made by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali introduced the amended bill in the Assembly. The main opposition party, Congress, tried to enter the well of the House, and tore the papers and threw them towards the Speaker. Amidst the acrimonious scenes, the Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary declared the bill passed, following the approval from the treasury benches.

The special session to pass the bill ended within 10 minutes of the commencement of the Assembly. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao didn't attend the House. The bill was passed in the Council in less than 5 minutes.

The lone CPM MLA Sunnam Rajaiah came to the Assembly wearing a black shirt to lodge his protest against the state government in regard to the arrests of the red chilli farmers in Khammam district.

The Ministry of Home Affairs' observations were as follows:

(i) In response to the Clause 1 of the (Telangana Land Acquisition Bill), it is submitted that State Legislature is competent to legislate with retrospective effect and also give overriding effect - however, vested rights may not be taken away while giving retrospective / overriding effect.

(ii) It is noticed that Clause 1 of the (Telangana Land Acquisition Bill ) has two commencement clauses. It appears clause 1(3) is otiose.

(iii) In response to the Clause 6, it appears that the words "revise and update" appearing in the Central Act are proposed to be substituted by the word "ascertain". It may bring ambiguity and thus may lead to increased litigation, and any policy which generates litigation is a bad policy. Hence the amendment may not be agreed.

(iv) In response to the Clauses 7 & 8, it is advised that while entering into such agreements with land owners, the consideration / compensation etc. may not be abnormally at variance to the disadvantage of the land owners.

(v) It appears that the Clause 10 is otiose.

The Ministry of Home Affairs also mentioned in the letter addressed to the state government that subject to the observations contained in para 4 above, there appeared no possibility of legal or constitutional objection to the Telangana Land Acquisition Bill if the assent of the President was accorded under Article 201 r/w Article 254 (2) of the Constitution.