Ranchi, Mar 24 (PTI) The Jharkhand government on Thursday hinted at amending rules so that if land acquired by any company is not used for five years it will be returned to the original land owner on par with a Central legislation.

A provision of the Jharkhand Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Rules -2015 stating that if any land acquired by a company was not utilised for five years will be returned to original land owner, has been removed by the previous government, Congress leaders alleged in the state Assembly.

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MLA Pradip Yadav, who joined the Congress after the 2019 Jharkhand assembly polls, said that according to the Centre's Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 ,if land is acquired under the 2013 Act and it is not utilised for five years, then it should be returned to the original land owner or go to the land bank.

“However, in the state's rules, the provision of returning land to the original land owner is missing. It only mentions that if land is not utilised for five years, it may go to land bank. My request to the government is to add this missing provision in the state's rules,” Yadav said.

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Replying to it, minister Joba Manjhi said, “The wrong that has been done earlier will be corrected.”

Highlighting another problem, Yadav said when a land is identified for acquisition, the government issues notice to land owners and after publication of the notice date, land owners are not able to use their land for farming.

“In many cases, companies refuse to take such land for some reason or the other after few years. In such cases, the land owners neither use their lands for farming nor do they get any compensation from the companies.

“I would request the government to do an assessment of such land and ensure compensation to land owners,” Yadav said.

In response, the minister said she would ask the deputy commissioners concerned to do an assessment.

“We will take a decision after the assessment,” she said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)