Govt to bring in amendments to acquisition of property Act

New Delhi: On the counting day of Gujarat and Himachal assembly polls, the government will try to pass a bill providing for amendment to the regulations governing compensation amount payable at the time of acquisition of immovable property by the central government.

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the last monsoon session but could not be taken up. The 'Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill 2017' was introduced by Minister of State for Planning, Programme Implementation and Statistics Rao Inderjit Singh.

It was originally to be introduced by the then Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu. On Monday, the newly-appointed Union Urban Development Minister, Hardeo Puri, will pilot the bill for passing. In Lok Sabha, the government has no problem mustering majority, but Parliamentary Affairs Minister is worried about the presence of members of Parliament, the day being an important day of much-awaited poll results.

The bill seeks to amend the provision to allow the central government to re-issue the notice of acquisition in order to ensure that the property's owner gets an opportunity to be heard. It has been introduced amid instances of persons interested in a property challenging the acquisition move citing that they were not given the opportunity for personal hearing.

According to the government, there could be situations that result in prolonged litigations and if the apex court quashes the notice of acquisition, there might be astronomical hike in compensation amount on account of market value appreciation.

Against this backdrop, the bill seeks to amend a section of the Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act to "enable the central government to re-issue the notice of acquisition to the owner or such other person interested in the property, for the purpose of giving (an) opportunity of being heard".

The owner or the person interested in the property would also be entitled to annual rate of interest — prevalent at any relevant time on the compensation payable — from the date of publishing the first notice till payment of the final compensation.

"It is proposed that any enhanced compensation with or without interest awarded by the court or other authority, before the date of commencement of the proposed amendment, shall be subject to the re-issuance of the proposed notice of acquisition and shall be applicable only to the cases of property being acquired for national security and defence purposes," as per the bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons.