The Confederation of Indian Industry has recommended three-pronged provisions for effective land acquisition legislation and for this it has proposed changes in the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, which is expected to be introduced in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
It has suggested a provision for setting up land bank corporations to facilitate acquisition and disbursement of land for industrial use.
CII had said the Bill's provision that the state could only acquire land for a private sector project if the company had already acquired a minimum percentage of the land will make it difficult for industry to set up projects.
"Agglomerating land from numerous owners is not a task which the corporate sector can do effectively, especially in the absence of proper land records and with small and scattered land holdings.
"Any attempt on the part of the government to transfer this task squarely on industry, without improving the system, will badly affect industrial development and overall economic growth in the country," said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.
CII says state land bank corporations would serve as institutions dedicated for acquiring unproductive and other lands for industrial purposes and provide a transparent and viable solution to the problem.
The job of the State Land Bank Corporations would be to scientifically acquire large tracts of non-cultivable and other lands, develop these as land banks for the future and have a transparent mechanism to pass these on to the private sector.
Moreover, CII recommends national digitisation of land records and planned zoning of land, as archaic land records are a big hurdle for land acquisition and compensation disbursement. Simultaneously, CII also recommends ex-ante zoning of land so as to have a clear mapping, identification and segregation of the land for various purposes, over a 100-150 year period.
In order to avoid controversies, such zoning and acquisitions by land bank corporations must be made ex-ante, that is, before it is allocated to any particular private sector entity.
