Shillong, Nov 19 (PTI) Meghalaya government has decided to ask the Center to exclude it from the purview of the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 as the state already has an act similar to it.
"The government will write to the Standing Committee of Parliament to exclude the state from the ambit of the LARR as there would be overlapping of powers and jurisdiction of the new Act and the Sixth Schedule," Revenue Minister R C Laloo told reporters after a Cabinet meeting last evening.
He pointed out that the state already had the Meghalaya Land Transfer (Regulation) Act 1971 which barred non-tribals from buying land in the state.
The land ownership pattern in the state was also different where the government did not own the land. The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and influential NGOs in the state have also objected to the LARR, if implemented without amendments.
The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 7 and proposed a unified legislation for acquisition of land and rehabilitation mechanism for the affected.