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John Locke's Second Treatise On Government

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In the ancient history, divine right of kings included eminent domain and even the bible has the reference of it [1]. In modern era, scholars have often cited two maxims “salus populi suprema lex esto”, which means, “regard for public welfare as the highest law”, and “necessitas publica major est quam privata", which means, “public necessity is greater than private necessity” for justifying eminent domain. John Locke also uses the latter maxim in his book Second Treatise on Government refers to it as a fundamental rule for government [2].

Since India is a common law country and British introduced laws with respect to land acquisition, it is pertinent to mention that in England significant piece of legislation with respect to land acquisition …show more content…

Similarly, United Nations Declaration of Human Rights has made it a universal rule “that everyone has the right to own property alone, as well as in association with others”, and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”. Therefore, around the …show more content…

(b) no provision for landless people affected by the project.
(c) no provision for dialogue with the people affected by the project.
(d) no consideration of rehabilitation.
(e) vague definition of the term “public purpose”.

Recently, the Government of Indian repealed the LAA, and introduced the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013 (“LARR”). The LARR limits, amongst other things, the definition of the term “public purpose” and mandates obligations with respect to resettlement and rehabilitation. Other key features of the LARR are [10]:

(a) new compensation formula for determining the fair market value of the land.
(b) retrospective operation of the LARR to cases pending for last five years.
(c) multiple checks and balances at every level.
(d) special safeguards for tribal communities and/or other disadvantaged groups.
(e) safeguards against displacement (until the full payment is made).
(f) compensation for livelihood

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