Also clears Forest Amendment Bill
Our Correspondent / NEW DELHI
The Lok Sabha on wednesday passed a bill amending regulations governing compensation amount payable for acquisition of immovable property by the central government for defence and security purposes.
The ‘Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill, 2017 seeks to amend a provision to allow the Centre to re-issue the notice of acquisition in order to ensure that the property’s owner gets an opportunity to be heard.
The bill will have retrospective effect from 1952. Replying to a debate on the Bill in the House, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said, the amendment is being done only for national security and defence purposes. He said, the government intention is to pay fair and just compensation land owner.
Mr. Puri said, in cases where a notice has been re-issued, the property owner will be entitled to an interest on the compensation payable to them. However, the re-issue of notice will not apply to cases where the compensation has already been awarded and accepted by the claimants.
The Lok Sabha has also passed the Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017 . The bill will replace the ordinance promulgated by the President on 23rd of November this year. The Bill seeks to exempt bamboo grown in non-forest areas from definition of tree, thereby dispensing with the requirement of felling and transit permit for its economic use.
Replying to a debate on the bill, Minister of Environment and Forests, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, bamboo, though, taxonomically a grass, was defined as a tree under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and its felling and transit required permission.
He said, it was a major impediment for bamboo cultivation by farmers on non-forest land. He said, bamboo is a poorman’s timber and the measure will go a long way in enhancing the agricultural income of farmers and tribals, especially in North-East and Central India.