Winter chill for Land Acquisition Bill

New Delhi: The contentious Land Acquisition Bill will now have to wait for the Winter Session of Parliament, as the joint panel examining it could not wrap up its exercise Monday.

The panel was given time till August 11 to submit its report. However, Congress and Trinamool MPs sought more time to give their comments on various issues. The government has also indicated that it is no longer in a hurry on the Land Acquisition Bill and it would go by the recommendations of the joint panel.

The NDA government seems to have developed cold feet on the contentious law with the Bihar elections looming later this year. With the panel likely to submit its report only in the first week of the Winter Session, the Bill’s fate will now be known only after the Bihar Assembly polls.

During Monday’s meeting, BJP and Congress members got into sharp exchanges over the clause of retrospective effect in the Bill draft.

Cause and effect

• With many other clauses settled, the Opposition and the NDA are differing over two vital clauses of the land Bill
• UPA clause says if an award has been made five years or more before the land Bill, 2013 and physical possession of land had not been taken or compensation is not paid, the UPA law will apply.
• NDA clause says that in calculating the five-year period, the duration for which land acquisition is held up by legal issues will not be counted.
• The two sides also differ over the clause of returning unutilised land to owners after five years.