Rajasthan: Land Pooling Act to be implemented by Aug 31

Jaipur:  The Rajasthan government’s Land Pooling Act is likely to come into force by the end of this month. The bill has been sent to chief minister Vasundhara Raje for her approval. The Urban Development and Housing Department (UDH) will soon release a notification in this regard. It will likely be implemented by August 31 after the UDH issues the notification.

The bill was approved by the President four months ago and it was to be implemented by August 1 but it had been stuck in the law department for the past two months. It was supposed to be implemented on August 1 but it got delayed due to some indecision over a few rules. The law department has made amendments in the bill twice since then.

A piece of land will be used for urban infrastructure development with the consent of the landowner under the Land Pooling Scheme, instead of the UDH acquiring the land.

Urban bodies were facing many difficulties in acquiring land for infrastructure projects after the new law of land acquisition came into force. The project cost increased substantially after the compensation was increased under the new Land Acquisition Act. After the Land Pooling Bill comes into force, it will be easier for urban bodies in Rajasthan to get land  for development works in cities. The government has proposed to return  55% of the developed land to the land owners.

The bill was passed in the state assembly on April 5, 2016. The President approved the bill. But due to some amendments, it got stuck again.