Jharkhand to amend land acquisition rules, raiyats to get back unused land

Bill for promotion of ST government servants based on seniority passed 

Ranchi, Mar 24: The Jharkhand government on Thursday hinted at amending rules so that if land acquired by any company is not used for five years it will be returned to the original land owner on par with a Central legislation.

A provision of the Jharkhand Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Rules -2015 stating that if any land acquired by a company was not utilised for five years will be returned to original land owner, has been removed by the previous government, Congress leaders alleged in the state Assembly.

MLA Pradip Yadav, who joined the Congress after the 2019 Jharkhand assembly polls, said that according to the Centre’s Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 ,if land is acquired under the 2013 Act and it is not utilised for five years, then it should be returned to the original land owner or go to the land bank.

“However, in the state’s rules, the provision of returning land to the original land owner is missing. It only mentions that if land is not utilised for five years, it may go to land bank. My request to the government is to add this missing provision in the state’s rules,” Yadav said.

Replying to it, minister Joba Manjhi said, “The wrong that has been done earlier will be corrected.” Highlighting another problem, Yadav said when a land is identified for acquisition, the government issues notice to land owners and after publication of the notice date, land owners are not able to use their land for farming.

In many cases, companies refuse to take such land for some reason or the other after few years. In such cases, the land owners neither use their lands for farming nor do they get any compensation from the companies.

“I would request the government to do an assessment of such land and ensure compensation to land owners,” Yadav said.

In response, the minister said she would ask the deputy commissioners concerned to do an assessment.

“We will take a decision after the assessment,” she said

The Jharkhand government will request the Centre to extend the deadline for paddy procurement till April 30 this year, in case it fails to achieve the target by March 31, a senior minister informed the state Assembly on Thursday.

The target for 2021-22 is 80-lakh tonne, and the deadline for procurement is expiring on March 31.

The state has achieved over 71 per cent of its paddy procurement target till March 23.

State Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Rameshwar Oraon told the House, “We have already achieved 71.33 per cent of the target till March 23 and there are seven more days to go.

“We are hopeful of achieving the target by March end. In case we fail to do so, a request will be made to the Centre to extend the deadline till April 30.” Oraon was replying to a question raised by BJP legislator Manish Jaiswal over poor paddy procurement in the state.

The Jharkhand Assembly today passed “Consequent Preference of Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation Bill 2022”

On 25 February 2022, the Cabinet had approved the Bill for the promotion of government servants on the basis of reservation. The bill entitles resultant preference to the government servants belonging to ST and SC community promoted on the basis of reservation.

The bill determines seniority in the promoted grade on the basis of length of service irrespective of the category