The government may be looking at a middle path on the Land Bill. The Centre indicated on Wednesdat it may be willing to let interested states circumvent the consent clause and social impact clause, and it may not push for an amendment of the central law. But is this a good strategy?
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said on Wednesday that some states are keen to bring their own legislations to make it easier to acquire land as they cannot indefinitely wait for a consensus on central legislation. "If Centre fails to approve this (bill) with consensus, then it should be left to the states. Those states which want to develop fast...Can suggest their own state legislations and Centre (would) approve that state legislation. An overwhelming section gave this kind of suggestion," he said.
BJD MP Jay Panda too said that a few amendments should be made to allow states to legislate their own land laws, but he does not get the sense that the Land Bill is in deep freeze.
"We have to find a solution, perhaps the Central government can look at ways and means of amending the existing Land Act such that it gives the freedom to individual states to further have their own versions of it, and they each have to find their own balance between equity for citizens as well as faster economic growth. So, I think some amendment will have to be looked at in order to facilitate a state-wise land law for the country. I don't get the sense that they have put anything in the deep freezer, but obviously the government will have to prioritise, it cannot have its entire wish list dealt with by any session of Parliament," Panda said.
Hailing the government's move, Sunil Jain of The Financial Express said even before the government had assumed power, Arun Shourie had explained that under Article 245(2) a lot of contentious issues that are also under the purview of states can actually be dealt with by the states, which had happened in labour. The Central government should have done the same with Land Laws, Jain said. However, according to him, the Centre perhaps made a big issue out of it because both transport minister Nitin Gadkari and railway minister Suresh Prabhu had said that very little land had been acquired for infrastructure building in the past one year. The Centre maybe needed to give a kickstart to that, said Jain.
But other than that, the land laws should have been left to the states, Jain said, because this bill is what got the government the 'suit boot ki sarkar' tag. It is this tag that has prevented the government from undertaking a lot of reforms such as raising the gas price, odd privatisation.
MK Venu of Amar Ujala Group added that it is not like the states will have unfettered kind of freedom to do whatever they want. "What will happen is there will be a Central law which will act as a foundation or a base case. And the states can then be allowed to improve upon it. They can pass some amendments seeking to expand the scope of public purpose - maybe for building rural infrastructure, build smart city, etc. So it will be a combination of state and Central law," he said.
This move makes sense because now the heat will be off Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and they can once again focus on important issues such as the GST Bill.
With this move, Venu said the Land Bill will get moved to the backburner.
Change of perception:
However, India Inc on its part seems to be disappointed with the government's move - they see it as bending or giving in to populism.
But Jain said over a period of time, people will realise that actually this is a win-win.
Once one or two states come up with their Bills to the Centre for consent, and it gets the go ahead, that will blunt the edge of much of the criticism. A few BJP states should move and quickly to do the right thing, said Jain.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
