Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Laws enacted through legislative process are bound to be amended or repealed with the passage of time and need of the hour. In India there are dozens of laws which have been amended or repealed completely during last one decade. In the recent times Government of India enacted some progressive legislations like Right to Information Act (RTI), National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Juvenile Justice Act (JJA), Right to Education (RTE) Goods and Services Tax Act (GST) etc . As we know because of constitutional reasons (article 370) laws enacted by Government of India through parliament are not directly applicable to J&K state unless ratified by J&K State Legislature / Government. There are many laws which have been ratified by J&K legislature in recent times like NREGA or GST. In some cases J&K state enacted or modified their laws making them at par with central laws like in case of RTI Act. In many cases Jammu & Kashmir still follow obsolete laws which hampers our infrastructure development and economic growth. One of these laws is Land Acquisition Act.
Jammu & Kashmir state continues to follow J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 which is a 84 year old law promulgated by Maharaja Hari Singh in the year1934. Infact when Maharaja had enacted this law , British India was following the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which was weaker than Maharaj’s Law. This indicates that Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir was much progressive vis a vis land reforms , land acquisition and development of his state. Infact Government of India continued to follow Land Acquisition Act of 1894 until recent times when this law was repealed in 2013.
The Congress lead United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II) in the year 2013 enacted more progressive and democratic law called Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR Act 2013) aftermath of Singur agitation against setting up of Tata Nano car plant in Singur West Bengal.
Inspite of the fact that Congress was in coalition Government with National Conference in Jammu & Kashmir in the year 2013, RFCTLARR 2013 was not ratified or adopted by J&K Government. NC-Congress Government did not even enact a new Land Acquisition law as they did in case of Right to Information Act (RTI). Central RTI Act 2005 was not adopted by PDP-Congress Government in J&K when it was enacted by UPA lead Congress Government at center. But, after few years when there was a change in Government in Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah led NC-Congress Government enacted J&K RTI Act 2009 on March 20th 2009. This was a great relief to people of J&K.
RFCTLARR Act 2013
From 2013 onwards I have written at least one dozen articles on the importance of new Land Acquisition Act in Jammu & Kashmir. I have been impressing upon successive Govts to adopt this law or enact a similar law of its kind in J&K state, but till date there has been no development in this regard. Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR Act 2013) focuses on providing not only compensation to the land owners, but also extend rehabilitation and resettlement benefits to livelihood looser from the land, which shall be in addition to the minimum compensation. The minimum compensation to be paid to the land owners is based on a multiple of market value and other factors laid down in the Act. In rural areas compensation paid to affected people is 4 times more the market value of land and property and in urban areas this compensation is double. The Act forbids or regulates land acquisition when such acquisition would include multi-crop irrigated area. The Act changed the norms for acquisition of land for use by private companies or in case of public-private partnerships, including compulsory approval of 80 percent of the landowners through Gram Sabha. The Act also introduced changes in the land acquisition process, including a compulsory social-impact study, which need to be conducted before an acquisition is made.
Under RFCTLARR Act 2013 the union or state governments can acquire lands for its own use, hold and control, including for public sector undertakings and for “public purpose”, like construction of dams , highways, railways etc.
How J&K State suffers?
To construct two Semi Ring Roads in Jammu & Kashmir, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is acquiring huge amount of land in some districts of Jammu and as well as in Kashmir valley. Funds have already been provided under PMs Development Programme (PMDP). NHAI is not ready to pay the affected people / farmers compensation what they pay in other states of India. NHAI or Govt of India is not discriminating with people of J&K , but instead there are technical reasons involved. The main issue is that RFCTLARR Act 2013 has not been extended to J&K nor has J&K state enacted a similar law which would have same provisions. Our limited agriculture land is being forcibly acquired. Apple , almond , pear , peach , plum , mango orchards are being axed. Our properties are being demolished and compensation paid is very meager because all the process of land acquisition is being undertaken under J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 which is an 84 year old law. This law when enacted in the year 1934 would have been a progressive law of that time , but after 84 years the law has to go and new law needs be adopted. Under J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 NHAI gives compensation which is 4 times less than what this organization pays in other states. During the land acquisition for Semi Ring Roads in J&K hundreds of fruit trees are to be axed. The assessment made by Horticulture department is also vague as they continue to follow 25 year old guidelines. As per these guidelines estimates for an apple trees are made @ Rs 16/ Kg , for Plum Rs 13 / Kg , for Mango Rs 15 / Kg and so on . Right now the retail rates of these fruits are 10 times high in market, but authorities are yet to modify its guidelines.
Conclusion
If J&K State has not enacted a new land acquisition Act why shall the poor people whose land is acquired have to suffer ? On an average land holding in J&K particularly in Kashmir valley is less than 3 kanals / family while as the national average is around 25 to 30 kanals (1.5 hectares). It was advisable to compensate our farmers 5 to 6 times more than the market value of land being a land deficit state, but instead of doing so Government is forcing our farmers to give land to NHAI against stamp rate plus 15 percent Jabirana (Solatium). Stamp rate of land is much less than market value of land. How can authorities force the affected farmers to give their limited land to NHAI which pays 4 to 5 times more rates in other states ? Government is also not following its own Land Acquisition Act of 1934. In his supreme wisdom Maharaja had kept a provision of Private Negotiation (PNC) in J&K Land Acquisition law / rules but NHAI is not accepting to have private negotiations with the affected people. Many people in Jammu & Kashmir might have ideological differences with Maharaja Hari Singhbut to ensure sustainable development of our state Maharaja was a visionary person. He promulgated very beautiful laws during his tenure for protection of natural resources in Jammu & Kashmir. Be it protection of wildlife , forests , chinars , mulberry or walnut trees Maharaja Hari Singh will always be remembered for this exemplary work. When British rulers enacted land acquisition act in 1894, J&K state was also following a similar law until late1930s. In order to give some relief to people especially the poor farmers and peasants , Maharaja enacted J&K Land Acquisition Act of 1934, but Govt of India did not change its own law and continued to follow it even after independence. It was only few years back when this law was repealed in year 2013. Now it is the time for J&K to also change its 84 year old was which infact has been the best law during the days of yore. After 84 years the whole dynamics of land acquisition have changed in South Asia and now it the moral duty of our Government to bring in a progressive legislation or an ordinance enabling smooth land acquisition in Jammu & Kashmir.
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