The Hon.Supreme Court of India, in an appeal by one Raghbir Singh Sherawat against the judgment of the Hon.High Court of Punjab and Haryana, made several observations which ought to make our administrators take more responsible decisions in the matter of land-acquisition.
supreme court of india
One of the very timely and pertinent observations made by the two-judge bench comprising Hon.Justice G.S.Sanghvi and Hon.Justice S.J.Mukhopadhyaya of the Supreme Court is that “the acquisition of agricultural land in the name of planned development or industrial growth would seriously affect the availability of food in future” as noted by the National Commission on Farmers headed by Dr.M.S.Swaminathan.
The grim reminder has not come a day too early.
The Hon.Court pointed quoted Jawaharlal Nehru who had said: “Everything else can wait, but not agriculture.”
The Swaminathan Commission remarked that prime land must be conserved for agriculture and should not be put to non-agricultural use lest the availability of food should suffer in a country where 60% of the population depended on agriculture to make a living.
The Supreme Court hit the nail on the head and commented: “Unfortunately these words of wisdom appear to have become irrelevant to the state apparatus which has used the Land Acquisition Act in the last two decades for massive acquisition of agricultural land in different parts of the country.”
The honourable judges further commented: “If the land of such persons is acquired, not only the current but future generations will be ruined and this is one of the reasons why the farmers who are deprived of their holdings commit suicide. It also appears that the authorities concerned are totally unmindful of the plight of those sections of society who are deprived of their only asset like a small house, a small industrial unit, etc. They do not realise that having one’s own house is a lifetime dream of the majority of the population of this country.”
The Hon.Court went on to add: “Therefore, before acquiring private land, the state and/or its agencies/instrumentalities should, as far as possible, use land belonging to the State for the specified public purpose. If the acquisition of the land becomes absolutely necessary, then the authorities must strictly comply with te statutory provisions and the rules of natural justice.”
It is surprising that our bureaucrats are totally insensitive in these matters and seem to lack essential wisdom in matters of governance. Our governments and administrators behave as if we the people exist for their sake and not the other way. This administrative insensitivity and insolence can be crushed only by timely pronouncements like the current one.
Incidentally, though this may be unrelated to the present case dealt with by the Supreme Court, we do not understand why the State should acquire the lands of several helpless citizens to further the ambitions of some large corporate body in the private sector in the name of “public purpose”. Is it not obvious to our honourable rulers that the purpose sought to be served in such cases is that of a private person (or a private legal person) rather than that of the public? Why can’t such corporate bodies etc – just like any common man seeking to establish a business or a small industry – go about purchasing land from the owners of the land at mutually acceptable prices rather than attempt to fleece the less powerful common man by (mis-)using the machinery of the State? Why should the State acquiesce to be a party to such manifest unfairness and rob Peter to pay Paul?
Tags: india Land Acquisition
