Enough of land grabbing, new law in the offing: Veerappa Moily

Union law minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said the Centre will  soon introduce a new law to set guidelines on acquisition of farm land for industrial and other commercial purposes and ensure that lands are purchased at prevailing market value.

“A new law will be promulgated to stop land grabbing and misappropriation, particularly the declaration land. The draft law has been cleared by the Cabinet and will be presented in the Budget session of the Parliament,” Moily said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a programme organised by the Mangalore Management Association, where he was conferred with the ‘Manager of the year’ award, Moily said: “We cannot allow concentration of land resources in any group or individual; we have to conserve certain extent of the land in the country for agriculture and farming purposes. This needs a special law. There are already so many laws to prevent land misuse. The proposed bill will not only augment the effects of earlier legislations but also have more teeth to prevent circumvention of laws.”

When asked about tainted ministers in the Yeddyurappa government, especially those who have defaulted on payment of Income-tax, Moily said: “We are reviewing it.”