Intervention Hands off agricultural land, warns supreme court
The supreme court ruled on October 12 that governments should not acquire agricultural land for private companies for non-agricultural purposes unless there is no alternative.
Pointing out that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, stipulated that agricultural land should not be acquired when alternative land is available, the court struck down the acquisition of land by the Punjab government on behalf of International Tractors Limited.
The company had requested the state government to acquire land on its behalf from Chak Gujran village in Hoshiarpur district for starting a tractor-manufacturing unit in collaboration with French automobile maker Renault.
The Punjab government on February 15, 2002, issued a public notification under the Land Acquisition Act, stating that survey for acquisition was to begin. The rationale it gave for acquiring the land was that the factory would contribute to welfare and prosperity of the whole community.
The court ruled that before proceeding with the acquisition of land, the state must "form an opinion that the lands which are going to be acquired are not good agricultural lands'. It also noted that when a company asks the government to acquire land, the government should direct the collector to investigate "that the company has made its best endeavour to find out lands in the locality suitable for the purpose of acquisition; that the company has made all reasonable efforts to get such lands by negotiation with the persons interested therein on payment of reasonable price and such efforts have failed