CCPA to decide today on proroguing Parliament to repromulgate land ordinance

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs will meet today to take a call on the issue of proroguing Parliament with a view to repromulgating the controversial land Ordinance even as the NDA government battles hard to build consensus on the new Land Acquisition Bill.

Sources said that a meeting of the CCPA this evening will take a final decision on the matter.

With the land acquisition ordinance set to lapse on April 5, indications are that the government may be heading towards its repromulgation and that at least one of the Houses could be prorogued for the purpose.

Parliament, in its Budget session, is currently on a month -long recess. For issuing an ordinance when the Parliament is in session, at least one of the Houses has to be prorogued.

The repromulgated ordinance will carry the nine official amendments moved by the government during passage of the Bill, which seeks to replace the executive order.

Sources said that senior ministers assigned responsibility to consult leaders of the various political parties have reached out to key leaders and the government will try its best to bring the land Bill in Rajya Sabha to replace the Ordinance in the second half of the Budget session after it reconvenes on April 20.

"We may repromulgate the ordinance soon after April 5 to ensure that it does not lapse," a government functionary said.

The Union Cabinet had yesterday given ex-post facto approval to the amendments agreed to by the government in Lok Sabha.

There is a buzz in government circles that the ruling dispensation may accept some tweaking of the consent clause, which was done away with in the Ordinance.

It may agree to reintroduce the provision of taking farmers' consent for acquiring land. The earlier 80 per cent consent requirement can be reduced to 51 per cent.

Similarly, instead of the earlier social impact assessment (SIA), the government may involve expert groups to examine the land deals to find out whether excess land has been acquired for a project and whether it has affected the original inhabitants.