CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved the de-notification of the controversial land pooling policy, which the AAP-led state government had recently withdrawn amidst protests from farmers, opposition parties and growing internal dissent.
The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Following the government’s withdrawal of the policy, farmers’ unions and opposition parties had been pressing the state to issue a formal notification for its rollback. Under mounting pressure from these groups, the government on Monday (August 11) announced that it was withdrawing the policy, which it had earlier described as “farmer-friendly.”
Opposition parties and farmers’ unions, who had described the policy as a land “grabbing” scheme, called its rollback a victory for the people of Punjab, claiming they had “forced” the Mann government to reverse its decision.
Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the policy, criticising the government for introducing it without conducting any environmental or social impact assessment.
As per the policy, the state government had planned to acquire 65,533 acres of land across 21 cities and towns in Punjab to develop industrial and residential zones, a move said to be the largest acquisition of land by the state government since 1966.
Under the policy, an owner would be given a 1,000 square yard residential plot and a 200 square yard commercial plot in fully developed land in lieu of one acre of land.
The policy was first announced in June, after which political parties and farmers’ unions began their protests. Within the AAP, some leaders also expressed dissent, urging the party leadership to address farmers’ concerns first.
The cabinet also approved an amendment to the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, and the withdrawal of stamp duty and registration fee exemptions for certain classes of cooperative societies. Currently, the Act provides exemptions from compulsory registration, originally intended to facilitate the development of cooperative institutions.
However, this provision has allegedly enabled property transactions, particularly in urban housing societies, to take place without formal registration or the payment of stamp duty and registration fees.
This has allegedly encouraged unregistered possession, benami transactions and other legally risky arrangements. Therefore, an amendment to Section 37 of the Act has been made by adding Clauses 2 and 3.
These clauses stipulate that the State Government may, through a notification in the Official Gazette, direct that the exemption under sub-section (1), or any part thereof, shall not apply to certain classes of cooperative societies or specified categories of instruments.
Upon the issuance of such a notification, the instruments so notified shall be deemed to fall within the scope of clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, and will accordingly be subject to compulsory registration under that Act.
To enhance rural development through proper execution and supervision, the cabinet also approved the creation of the post of “Panchayat Development Secretary” by merging the cadres of Panchayat Secretaries and Gram Sevaks (Village Development Officers).
A state cadre will subsequently be constituted for these posts to accelerate rural development across Punjab. For existing Panchayat Secretaries, a dying cadre will be created, with placements based on their self-declaration letters and seniority, following the existing Gram Sevaks (VDOs) in the seniority list.