Madras HC orders land acquisition by TN government as illegal

The Madras High court has rejected the three land acquisitions laws by the state government stating them as "unconstitutional". The order will have its impact on lands acquired for various projects and have not been put to use.

Chennai: In a set back to Tamil Nadu government's industrialisation development plans, the Madras High court has quashed all the three land acquisitions laws by the state government since September 2013 on Thursday.

The three legislations are: Tamil Nadu Highways Act of 2001, Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act of 1997, and Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Scheme Act of 1978, and have been declared as "unconstitutional" to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (RFCTLARR Act) passed by the parliament.

The bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramoniun Prasad has declared that all the three laws to be illegal with the effect from September 27, 2013

The order will have its impact on lands acquired for various projects and have not been put to use.

The central act exempted from the provisions of the act for land acquired for 13 purposes under Section 105.

The Tamil Nadu government added Section 105A and added exemptions for land acquired for state highways, Harijan welfare and for industrial purposes.

The court said the central law would prevail in the case of difference between the central and state law. The three state laws for land acquisition were deemed to have become void once the central law was passed by the Parliament.