A fortnight after the Madras High Court declared as “illegal” an amendment to the Centre’s Land Acquisition Act, the State government on Friday tabled a Bill in the Legislative Assembly seeking to revive the operation of three State legislations that were sought to be exempted from the purview of the central legislation.
The government argued that the judgment had affected land acquisition for infrastructure projects estimated at ₹1.84 lakh crore. The Bill sought to revive operation of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Scheme Act of 1978; The Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997; and The Tamil Nadu Highways Act, 2001.
Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar, who tabled the Bill, said that 23,804 hectares of land had been acquired through these laws and 1,373 hectares had been actually put to use while the acquisition was in progress in the remaining 22,431 hectares of land.