Constitutionalism In Land Acquisition And Consolidation
- IJLLR Journal
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
Renuga Devi. A, LL.M., School of Excellence in Law, TNDALU, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
ABSTRACT
Constitution plays a significant role in the recent developments of land laws governed accordingly by each States as per their State- Specific land laws. Constitutionalism in both land acquisition and land consolidation refers to a set of rules and principles by the state which governs the land acquisition and consolidation policies. The principle of acquisition is the land must be acquired only for the public purpose and public welfare while ensuring the property rights of the landowners. The government has the authority to acquire the land of private persons for the welfare of the public even if the owner does not want to sell their land, but they will be given compensation. This comes under the doctrine of “Eminent Domain.” The power of eminent domain is rooted based on the principle of sovereignty which allows the land for acquisition for welfares such as building schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, metro and for other public utilities. The consolidation of land is a process of merging fragmented land holdings. This was introduced to improve the efficiency in agriculture, development of infrastructure and development of environmental policies. It is always misinterpreted that the land consolidation is mere reallocation of fragmented land into pocketed land to remove the effects of fragmentation. The major objective is to reform the agricultural structure, optimize the land usage, reduce the cost of fragmentation, and improve the infrastructure of land holding. The reform of consolidation requires proper and specific legal procedures to ensure fair compensation re-allocation to the people affected due to land consolidation. Both land acquisition and land consolidation are subject to judicial review and constitutional limitations.
Keywords: Constitutional Test, Property, Land Acquisition, Land Consolidation, Protection, Public Interest.
