Ordinance to validate land acquisitions

Panaji: Governor Mridula Sinha on Monday issued an ordinance amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. The ordinance has come into effect retrospectively from January 1, 2014, as per the notification issued by the law department.
Through the ordinance, Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency and Resettlement in Land Acquisition and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Central Act) which is in force in Goa, has been amended.
As per the latest amendment, where an award has been made and the compensation has been deposited in the government treasury or with any financial institution including in EDC limited on account of any land acquisition proceedings, such land awards will not come under the ambit of the new act.
The notification says that after the existing provision in the sub-section 2 of Section 24, the following insertion is to be made, namely: “Provided further that, where an award has been made and the compensation has been deposited in the Government Treasury or with any Financial Institution including in EDC Limited on account of any land acquisition proceedings, then the same, for the purposes of this section, would be discharged of the obligations by the collector.”
A government official said there are likely to be many land acquisitions completed and awards declared before the new Act came into force in 2013 but payments were not made. Such land acquisition stands to lapse with the application of the 2013 Act. But with the latest amendment those land proceedings will not be affected.