Land Acquisition Act: Draft Rules given to State

The National Centre for Land Governance (NCLG), a Central Government initiative under the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, has submitted to the state government draft rules for the newly introduced Land Acquisition Act. Though the Centre had introduced the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act in January, the state government had not yet framed the Rules that had led to many issues related to land acquisition for many of the development projects.

The NCLG submitted the draft Rules to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Revenue secretary Satyajeeth Rajan on Wednesday. In the rules framed, the focus has been given to social impact assessment study and social impact management plans, sources said. The Rules contain rehabilitation package to the land owners, price fixation of lands, acquisition procedures and a lot more, they said.

Source

The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/298510/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/04-07-2014#page/5/1 

Aranmula: Govt for giving exemption to over 200 acres of land

The state government, which is so adamant in supporting the controversial private Airport at Aranmula despite widespread protests citing several legal impediments pertaining to land acquisition and environment disasters , has decided to go ahead with granting exemption to more than 200 acres of land that the airport promoters -- KGS group had acquired as part of the project.

The Revenue department has been asked to make a proposal in the cabinet with regard to providing exemption to the land acquired by the private company inviloation of the Land Reforms Act. The decision was taken at a meeting held on Friday, which was attended by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Pathanamthitta MLA K Shivadasan Nair, Revenue Principal Secretary Sathyajeeth Rajan and top officials from the Land Board and Commissionerate of Land Revenue.

In the meeting it was also decided to file a counter affidavit against the Green Tribunal order that stayed the construction of the airport until further orders, highly placed sources said. The meeting observed that the government had the discretionary powers to give exemption for the project under the Land Reforms Act and also from the Wet land and Paddy Conservation Act, the sources said.

Source: The New Indian Express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/225885/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/08-02-2013#page/4/1