Revised Bill to Amend Law on Government Buying Immovable Property Introduced

Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, 2017 Highlights:

Enables the Central Government to re-issue a property acquisition/requisition notice Provides an opportunity for the property owner or interested parties to ‘show cause’ instead of fighting lengthy litigations Shall be applicable only to cases of land being acquired for national security and defense purposes Property owner will be entitled to an annual rate of interest The Indian Parliament’s ongoing monsoon session has announced an amendment to the bill that governs the compensation amount payable to the property owner at the time of acquisition of his/her property by the central government. The ‘Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ was introduced by the Minister of State for Planning, Programme Implementation, and Statistics Rao Inderjit Singh. Further to the ‘Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act of 1952,’ the newly revised bill enables the central government to reissue an acquisition notice to the property owner to ensure that the owner has an opportunity to be heard. Explaining the reason for the change, the Government said that there had been situations in the past where lengthy and prolonged litigations have resulted in significant losses to the government. This has happened when the Supreme Court has quashed the notice of acquisition, but the property value has appreciated significantly during the litigation period, resulting in a huge hike in compensation. The owner or the person interested in the property would be entitled to an annual rate of interest (same as offered on domestic Fixed Deposit offered by the State Bank of India) from the date of publication of the first notice, till the final payment of the compensation. This is a win-win situation for both property owners and the government. While property owners are getting an opportunity to show cause instead of struggling with lengthy litigations, the government, on the other hand, will not suffer losses due to increased compensation because the property value has appreciated during ongoing litigations.