Centre returns State Land Acquisition Act

Hyderabad: The Centre has returned the TS Land Acquisition Act approved by the Legislature in December. This will force the state government to bring in the amendments suggested by the Centre in a special session of the Legislature. The government had forwarded the Act to the Centre in January this year, requesting it to refer the Act to President Pranab Mukherjee for final approval.

However, after keeping the Act pending for three months while raising various queries, the Centre recently sent it back to the state government, instead of referring it to the President. While the TS government was hopeful of getting the President’s nod, the Centre sought a few amendments to the Act. Since Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has already announced convening a special session of the Assembly to pass Muslim/ST quota Bills, the TS government plans to bring amendments to Land Acquisition Act in the same session.

The amendments sought by the Centre are being worked out by state revenue officials. Official sources said, “The Act was pending with the Law ministry for three months. It raised a few queries that were clarified by the government. The Law ministry now wants those clarifications to be included by bringing amendments to the existing Act. It sent back the Act recently. The revenue department is now drafting the amendments.” Incidentally, the Opposition had urged the Centre not to forward the Act to the President for approval without the controversial norms being deleted.