Punjab to resume ‘surplus’ land with developers

Chandigarh, June 30
Any individual or company holding more than the permissible 18 acres of land, acquired through “dubious” means, now stands to lose the surplus land. This move by the Capt Amarinder Singh government in Punjab has triggered panic among big landlords, colonisers and mega project developers.
Sources say the Revenue Department has drawn up an action plan to ensure that provisions of the Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972, are not violated by any individual, society or company. Sources in the department said orders had been issued to ensure that large tracts of agriculture land acquired for industrial projects that had failed to take off be put to agriculture use again.
The government has already begun issuing notices to those with large landholdings, instructing the deputy commissioners to scrutinise the same. A senior revenue official ruled out retrospective scrutiny.
“The orders are only meant to ensure that the Land Reforms Act is not violated, especially by private individuals who have bought land beyond the permissible limit and by societies/companies who were exempted from the cap to give a fillip to industrial investment in the state.
“This order will impact all those who acquired huge chunks of cultivable land at low prices in the name of setting up hospitals, educational institutions, including universities, and integrated housing and industrial projects,” he told The Tribune.
He said the Punjab Government, to attract investment in mega and super mega projects (over 100 acres), had earlier allowed land acquisition. “Several developers bought agriculture land and obtained sanction for land use change, but failed to develop the projects. The government now wants all such land back which, under the Punjab Land Reforms Act, can then be allotted to other persons or companies,” he added.