RFCTLARR Act 2013 - Chapter II

Section 8: Examination of Land Acquisition Proposal and Social Impact Assessment Report by Appropriate Government

Section 8 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 requires the appropriate Government to scrutinise the proposed acquisition after the Social Impact Assessment process and Expert Group appraisal. The Government must consider public purpose, social costs, minimum land requirement, earlier unutilised land, displacement, infrastructure, ecology and, where applicable, prior consent of affected families.

Public purposeThe acquisition must serve a legitimate and bona fide public purpose requiring the identified land.

Benefit versus social costPotential benefits and public purpose must outweigh the social costs and adverse social impact.

Minimum landOnly the minimum area required for the project should be proposed for acquisition.

Minimum displacementThe selected area should minimise displacement, infrastructure disturbance, ecological impact and adverse impact on affected individuals.

What is Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act 2013?

Section 8 is the Government scrutiny stage under Chapter II of the 2013 Act. The Social Impact Assessment process begins under Section 4, includes the public hearing under Section 5, publication under Section 6, and Expert Group appraisal under Section 7. Section 8 then requires the appropriate Government to examine the proposal and the relevant reports before recommending the area for acquisition.

Section 8 - Statutory provisions

Examination of proposals for land acquisition and Social Impact Assessment report by appropriate Government

(1) The appropriate Government shall ensure that:-

there is a legitimate and bona fide public purpose for the proposed acquisition which necessitates the acquisition of the land identified;
the potential benefits and the public purpose referred to in clause (a) shall outweigh the social costs and adverse social impact as determined by the Social Impact Assessment that has been carried out;
only the minimum area of land required for the project is proposed to be acquired;
there is no unutilised land which has been previously acquired in the area;
the land, if any, acquired earlier and remained unutilised, is used for such public purpose and make recommendations in respect thereof.

(2) The appropriate Government shall examine the report of the Collector, if any, and the report of the Expert Group on the Social Impact Assessment study and after considering all the reports, recommend such area for acquisition which would ensure minimum displacement of people, minimum disturbance to the infrastructure, ecology and minimum adverse impact on the individuals affected.

(3) The decision of the appropriate Government shall be made available in the local language to the Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation, as the case may be, and the offices of the District Collector, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the Tehsil, and shall be published in the affected areas, in such manner as may be prescribed, and uploaded on the website of the appropriate Government.

Proviso: Where land is sought to be acquired for the purposes specified in sub-section (2) of Section 2, the appropriate Government shall also ascertain whether the prior consent of the affected families, as required under the proviso to sub-section (2) of Section 2, has been obtained in the manner prescribed.

Government checks required under Section 8(1)

Legitimate and bona fide public purpose: The Government must be satisfied that the proposed acquisition has a genuine public purpose and that the identified land is necessary for that purpose.

Benefits must outweigh social costs: The potential benefits and public purpose must be weighed against the social costs and adverse social impact identified through the Social Impact Assessment.

Only minimum land should be acquired: The proposal must be confined to the minimum area needed for the project.

Previously acquired unutilised land: The Government must consider whether unutilised land previously acquired in the area is available.

Use of earlier unutilised acquisition: Where land acquired earlier remains unutilised, Section 8 requires consideration of its use for the public purpose and recommendations in that regard.

Meaning of important legal expressions

Appropriate Government

The expression appropriate Government is defined in Section 3(e) of the Act. The competent Government depends on the nature and location of the acquisition and may include the Central Government, State Government or the specified Union territory administration in circumstances covered by that definition.

Public purpose

The application of the Act and the categories of public-purpose acquisition are dealt with in Section 2. Section 8(1)(a) adds an important scrutiny requirement: the appropriate Government must ensure that the proposed acquisition involves a legitimate and bona fide public purpose which actually necessitates acquisition of the identified land.

Social Impact Assessment

A Social Impact Assessment, commonly referred to as SIA, is the statutory assessment process beginning under Section 4. It examines the proposed acquisition and its impact on affected families and the community. The SIA study, public hearing, publication and Expert Group appraisal collectively inform the Government's examination under Section 8.

Affected families and prior consent

The term affected family is defined in Section 3(c). The proviso to Section 8(3) connects the Government's examination with the consent requirement applicable to acquisitions for the purposes specified in Section 2(2). Where that provision applies, the Government must ascertain whether the required prior consent of affected families has been obtained in the prescribed manner.

Reports considered under Section 8(2)

The appropriate Government must examine the Collector's report, if any, and the Expert Group's report on the Social Impact Assessment study. After considering the reports, the Government is required to recommend an area for acquisition that seeks to achieve minimum displacement of people, minimum disturbance to infrastructure and ecology, and minimum adverse impact on affected individuals.

Practical effect: Section 8 does not treat identification of land as sufficient by itself. The Government's examination must address necessity, proportionality of social costs and benefits, minimum land requirement, existing unutilised acquired land, displacement and environmental or infrastructure disturbance before the acquisition process advances.

Publication of the Government decision under Section 8(3)

The Government's decision must be made available in the local language to the Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation, as applicable, and to the offices of the District Collector, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Tehsil. It must also be published in the affected areas in the prescribed manner and uploaded on the website of the appropriate Government.

How Section 8 fits into the acquisition process

Sections 4 to 6: Social Impact Assessment study, public hearing and publication.

Section 7: Independent Expert Group appraisal of the Social Impact Assessment report.

Section 8: Appropriate Government examines the proposal, SIA material and relevant reports and decides the area to be recommended for acquisition.

Section 9: The Act provides a limited exemption from Social Impact Assessment where land is proposed to be acquired by invoking the urgency provisions under Section 40.

Section 11: Where the statutory requirements are satisfied and the process proceeds, the Act provides for publication of the preliminary notification.

Official legal sources

For the authoritative Central legislation and current official material, see the RFCTLARR Act 2013 on India Code, the Department of Land Resources, Government of India, and the Department's official collection containing the RFCTLARR Social Impact Assessment and Consent Rules 2014 and related documents.

Legal note: A particular acquisition may also be governed by applicable State rules, notifications, amendments and judicial decisions. The current Central Act and the relevant State legal framework should therefore be checked for case-specific application.