Events
& Issues
New Delhi, 20
September 2017
Land Allotment
ELITE PLOT, POOR SUFFER
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The Supreme Court has
rightly decided to frame guidelines for allotting public land and put a halt to
whims and fancies of the powers that be. With its attention recently drawn through
a PIL to the privileged being given subsidised land when the poor were
deprived, the court expressed concern over State governments allotting
residential plots in cities to serving and former MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats,
journalists and judges of their choice by exercising their discretionary power.
The two-member bench
observed: “We must have a more transparent system for allotting plots. Poor
people cannot afford to have a house in cities and they are not able to get the
most basic requirements of life but lands are being allotted to others. It has
become discretion at the hands of the government in allocation of land and we
all know what discretion leads to. Proper guidelines are required and we will
examine the issues”.
It held the view that
all State government schemes on land allocation would be brought under judicial
scrutiny to curb the largesse and directed Chief Secretaries to provide details
of schemes on land allocation to the Attorney General by October 5, who after
examining these shall file a report.
What is of interest
that 16 judges had recused from hearing this case as they were among the privileged
in getting plots allotted! At the same time, the judgement was rather mild and
did not condemn the practice of land allotment to a few in the backdrop of the
gulf between the rich and the poor, the urban and rural class getting to be
ever widening.
Of importance is an
earlier judgment, where the bench of then Chief Justice and DY Chandrachud was
constrained to direct that government authorities should not allot public land
arbitrarily to commercial developers without ensuring public interest. It observed:
“distribution of scarce natural resources (be made) in a manner that would
achieve public good . . . In other cases where natural resources are alienated
for commercial exploitation, a public authority cannot allow them to be
dissipated at its unbridled discretion at the cost of public interest”, while
cancelling rights of a land measuring 43,407 sq metres by Ujjain Development
Authority (UDA) to a private entity.
This apart, recall
that only last month, the Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of former UP
Chief Secretary, who was CEO of Noida authority and a former IAS officer in the
infamous land allotment scam in mid 90s, wherein several people had been
initially allotted plots at various locations, but got bigger plots in better
areas after conversion and payment of charges. In yet another case in
Maharashtra in 2004, another bench pulled up the City Industrial Development
Corporation for showing favour and said the disposal of government land by
adopting a discriminatory method should be avoided and it be done in a fair and
equitable manner. “State and its agencies and instrumentalities cannot give
largesse such as allotment of land to any person at will and whims of political
entities or officers showing favouritism,” was its firm view.
Given the cases above,
are we to expect the powers that be would continue to make such arbitrary
allotment and the courts would have to interfere in ensuring justice? Worse, it’s
distressing that while the landless do not have land to earn livelihood, the
elite sections of society are getting land in spite of having proper, rather
fancy shelter.
Add to this the fact
that land at subsidised rates is also being given to private educational
institutions and private nursing homes, viewed as centres of education and
health care for the rich and upper middle class. The economically weaker
sections and the low income groups do not derive any benefits as they neither
can get their wards admitted in such educational institutions, nor can avail
treatment in these hospitals given the exorbitant rates.
Sadly, the political
class has forgotten Vinoba Bhave’s gramdan-bhoodan
movement which sought that excess land of the rich be transferred to the poor
and the landless to enable them to earn their livelihood. As is well known, the
concept of gramdan to bring about
socio-economic change is linked with the original philosophy of Gandhi’s
‘village republic’.
This concept explored
avenues for the people to meet their basic demands by working together at the
village level. It was a means of uniting the rural landless with small
peasantry and had potential to motivate a synthesis between the private
landowner and landless labourers. Though it was successfully applied in some
parts of the country, the momentum was lost after his death. The so-called
elite and bureaucracy didn’t approve as it went against their interests and the
Government too didn’t show much interest.
It is distressing
that the whole planning and development process over the years is geared to
benefit the rich and the powerful without any concern for the impoverished.
Whether it is land or any other vital natural resource, the poor are deprived
of these in Gandhi’s country.
Every government
talks of poverty alleviation without tangible benefits to the real
beneficiaries. The tragedy is that the political class and their accomplices,
the bureaucracy and planners, have not cared to think how land distribution
could help upgrade the standards of living of the poor and the impoverished.
Worse, some State governments are even busy acquiring land by hook or by crook by
dispossessing the poor without bothering about how these people would find
alternative means of livelihood.
Are we still to
believe that both the Centre and State governments can change their perspective
and approach towards social and economic development? It is difficult to
visualise any change given the approach being adopted by both the present and
past establishment. To bring about the necessary change and make available this
vital land resource to the people and not a privileged few there has to be a
basic change in our planning and thinking process.
Development of land
has to be understood in a broader perspective – a strategy that helps in
improving the living standards of the major sections of the population – the
poor and the economically weaker sections. Of course, proper guidelines have to
be framed in this regard to stop the rot that has seeped in land distribution. And,
political will and the desire to ensure social justice in the system are
imperative. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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