Gandhinagar, Sep 25 (IANS): The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 according to which the sale of land for bonafide industrial purposes will be permitted in cases where the purchaser has failed to commence the production within three years by paying 40 to 100 percent of the prevailing 'Jantri' rates.
The Bill was passed by a majority vote, amidst an uproar and opposition by the Congress.
Gujarat revenue minister Kaushik Patel moved the Bill to amend the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1948, the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949 and the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region and Kutch area) Act, 1958 in the House on the last day of the monsoon session of the Assembly.
According to the government, with rapid industrial development a need arose to allow certain purchases for bonafide industrial use in the state.
The current law doesn't allow the sale or transfer of such land if the owner cannot commence industrial production.
According to the provisions of the Bill, now the prior consent from the district collector will not be needed for purchasing agricultural land for setting up an agriculture university, animal husbandry university, medical education or health education institutes. The applicant will just have to inform the collector within a month of the purchase and commence the project.
"In the BJP government the farmers interest will always be the top priority. The main objective of the Bill is to speed up the process to initiate industrial production. We are not facilitating any other relaxation in other norms of the existing provisions. These amendments are just to reduce the time consumed in the due process," said Patel.
"This Bill will provide opportunities for industrialists to grab agricultural land for their own purposes. The government has only provisioned this Bill intending to aid the industrialists and not for any other purpose," said CJ Chavda, Congress MLA from Gandhinagar. "We strongly oppose this Bill," Chavda added.