Section 32 Land Acquisition Act 2013: Infrastructural Amenities in Resettlement Area
Section 32 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 places a duty on the Collector to ensure infrastructural facilities and basic minimum amenities in every resettlement area as specified in the Third Schedule.
Meaning and purpose of Section 32
Rehabilitation and resettlement under the 2013 Act is not limited to monetary payments or individual family entitlements. Section 32 addresses the facilities that must accompany resettlement by requiring the Collector to ensure the infrastructure and basic minimum amenities prescribed in the Third Schedule.
Section 32 - Provision of infrastructural amenities in resettlement area
In every resettlement area as defined under the Act, the Collector must ensure the provision of all infrastructural facilities and basic minimum amenities specified in the Third Schedule.
What is a resettlement area?
The expression "resettlement area" is defined in Section 3 of the Act. In substance, it refers to an area where affected families who have been displaced as a result of land acquisition are resettled by the appropriate Government. Section 32 applies to every such resettlement area.
Collector's statutory responsibility
The language of Section 32 uses the expression "shall ensure". The provision therefore places responsibility on the Collector to ensure that the Third Schedule facilities and basic minimum amenities are provided in the resettlement area. The provision should be read with the applicable Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme, award, State rules and acquisition-specific directions.
Third Schedule: infrastructural amenities
The Third Schedule to the 2013 Act specifies infrastructural amenities for resettlement areas. These include specified roads, drainage and sanitation arrangements, safe drinking water, drinking-water facilities for cattle, grazing land where applicable, fair-price shops, panchayat ghars, post offices, seed and fertiliser storage facilities, irrigation facilities, transport facilities, burial or cremation grounds, security arrangements, veterinary services, community centres, places of worship, electricity connections, anganwadis, schools, health facilities and other amenities described in the Schedule, subject to its terms and applicable standards.
How Section 32 fits into Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Section 31 requires the Collector to pass a Rehabilitation and Resettlement Award for each affected family in accordance with Second Schedule entitlements. Section 32 complements those individual entitlements by addressing the infrastructure and basic amenities required in the resettlement area itself.
Second Schedule and Third Schedule
The Second Schedule principally concerns Rehabilitation and Resettlement entitlements for affected families, while the Third Schedule addresses infrastructural amenities in resettlement areas. Together with Sections 31 and 32, these Schedules form an important part of the statutory Rehabilitation and Resettlement framework.
Connection with taking possession
Section 38 regulates the stage at which possession of acquired land may be taken and links possession with payment of compensation and Rehabilitation and Resettlement entitlements within the statutory framework. Section 32 should therefore be read as part of the wider sequence of duties governing rehabilitation, resettlement and possession.
Key points
- Section 32 applies to every resettlement area under the Act.
- The Collector must ensure infrastructural facilities and basic minimum amenities.
- The required amenities are specified in the Third Schedule.
- Section 32 complements the individual Rehabilitation and Resettlement Award under Section 31.
- Applicable State rules, notifications and project-specific Rehabilitation and Resettlement arrangements should also be checked.
The Central Act should be read with applicable State amendments, rules, notifications and acquisition-specific orders where relevant.