Understanding Andhra Pradesh Land Acquisition Act of 2013 : Procedures and Stages in the Process

The Government has full authority under the Land Acquisition Act to acquire any land required for public purposes such as land acquisition for irrigation projects, roads, canals and land acquisition for granting housing plots to the poor and when land acquisition becomes compulsory in this case, as per under earlier the Land Acquisition Act, as per the procedures in Act 1 of 1894 based on the provisions in B.S.O. 90, 91 the land acquisition procedures were implemented.

Some states have made land acquisition acts along with the central act and some states (such as Andhra Pradesh) have made some amendments in the act. Since this Act is more than 100 years old and the land acquisition of many projects which are currently rapidly developing and the government with the intention of giving due justice to the residents who have lost their land in the land acquisition, the new Land Acquisition Act 30 of 2013 “The right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act” and Act 22 of 2018 “The right to fair compensation and transparency in land acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Act” formulated as a rule.

The overview of various stages in the process of land acquisition

1. The Requisition Department shall submit to the Land Acquisition Officer in the Land Plan Schedules Form – A (1), detailing the lands required for their proposed project.
2. According to section 7(1) of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, the Expert Committee will conduct an inquiry on the assessment of the social impact of the said land acquisition on the residents of the respective areas.
3. Survey No. of land proposed to be acquired for issue of preliminary declaration. A primary survey is conducted for the details of the claimants in the area (enjoyment survey).
4. Preliminary Notification (PS) under Section 11(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 Form No. 6A will be prepared and published in daily circulation of two newspapers and gazette.
5. As a complete survey of the land and sub-division record is required for preparation of draft declaration, as per the details in the preliminary notification, the Survey Boundaries Act Act no. VIII, a record of sub-division of land acquisition lands is prepared by conducting the survey under the Andhra Pradesh Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923.
6. According to the details of the records of the survey sub-division,in form no.VII, the draft declaration is published as per section 9(1) of the Land Acquisition Act.
7. As per Section 26, 27 of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, the market value of the said lands will be ascertained.
8. The award is issued under Section 37 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
9. After the award process, the final notification will be published as per section 13 of the Andhra Pradesh Survey and Boundaries Act 1923.

The land acquisition should be done according to the Act no. 30, 2013 Land Acquisition Compensation, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction Act 2013 and Act no. 22, 2018 Andhra Pradesh Amendment Act (G.O.M.S. No. 562 dated 13.11.2018)

First, the land requisitioning department for the proposed project should submit land plan schedules in form no. A(1) should be submitted. Complete sub-division record is required only at the award stage whereas in some districts sub-division record work is being done at the first stage. The requisitioning department (Requisition Department) has to submit the exact details of the land required by them as per Chapter III of Land Acquisition 2013 in Appendix-I.

Land acquisition stages:

1. Preliminary Notification (U/s 11 (i) of LA Act 2013 )
2. Declaration & Summary of Rehabilitation & Resettlement (U/s 19 L.A Act 2013)
3. Primary Value Verification (P.V. stage)
4. Award stage.
5. Post Award Stage
6. 13th Notification & Final check memo

1. Preliminary Notification:

• In the place where the land proposed for land acquisition is located, the information should be collected such as village name, survey number and whether confirm the village is ryotwari or estate.
• If it is a ryotwari, it should be published in the District Gazette as per section 11(i) of the LA act 2013. If it is an estate, it should be published in the District Gazette as per section 17(B) and section 11(i) of the LA act 2013.
• In case of Unsurveyed ryotwari village, Gazette should be published as per the section 5 of survey and boundaries act 1923 and 11(i) of LA act 2013.
• In case of Unsurveyed Estate/Inam, Gazette should be published as per the section 17(b)(ii) of survey and boundaries act 1923 and 11(i) of LA act 2013 with the following details.
• The requisitioning department (Requisition Department) has to submit the exact details of the land required by them as per Chapter III of Land Acquisition 2013 in Appendix-I.
• Gazette notification should be published with the details of the land to be acquired, the survey number, the area and the registered holders after the investigation on the social impact of this land acquisition.
• A preliminary survey can be conducted as per the provisions of Section 12 of Act 30 of 2013 to find out the land acquisition details.

2. Declaration & Summary of Rehabilitation & Resettlement

Survey and Land acquisition subdivision record preparation :

Sub-division records are required to be completed at the draft notification stage. At this stage, after the land acquisition officer has issued a memo asking him to conduct a survey and submit a record, the next survey officer will issue a notice in the village with the details of the lands to be surveyed as per Section 6(1) of the Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923. There will be a period of 15 days from the date of issue of the said advertisement to the date of the survey of land. A copy of the 6(1) notice statement shall be sent to the Village Revenue Officer and a further certified copy as notified in the village shall be filed with the Sub-division records.

Further the area proposed for land acquisition should be examined on the basis of existing village survey records and survey should be conducted on the basis of peg marks marked by the applicant department for the boundaries of land proposed for acquisition.
Andhra Pradesh Board of Revenue Standing Order, 34A, Chapter-2, Section-4, Para 10 & 13, has to be followed while making a new subdivision.

The survey number which will be affected by land acquisition is surveyed by locating field trijunctions and measurements will be checked with the help of Village F.M.B. The boundaries of land to be acquired and to be identified as subdivisions, necessary details to be collected. If there are bends on new subdivisions, take offsets to nearest G-Line in that survey number. In this way, the following records have to be prepared after the sub-division measured for the land proposed for land acquisition.

1. Enjoyment Sketches and Enjoyers List – 2 sets
2. Temporary Sketches -2 sets with Temporary Sub-Division Statement
3. Permanent sketches -3 sets with Permanent Sub-Division Statement
4. Combined Sketch With all L.A. affected S.Nos.

1. Enjoyment Sketch:

The land acquisition proposed land was measured as a subdivision and how much area was found in which subdivision in the field sketch (F.M.B), the details of structures and trees etc. should be recorded and prepared in two copies. Issuance of preliminary notification on the basis of this enjoyment field report as per Section 19(1) and notices issued to the affected enjoyers/registered holders in Form VII (b).

2. Temporary Sketch:

• If a survey field has no subdivision, the acquired portion will be taken as a subdivision and the remaining parts are formed as sub-divisions. When there are two or more sub-divisions in a survey field and the acquired portion is subdivided, the acquired land sub-divisions formed in the old sub-divisions should be recognized as temporary subdivisions.
• For the sub-divisions so constituted, B.S.O. 34-A, Section -4, Para 15(a) requires notation to be given. (But the existing “Andhra Pradesh Land Title Deed and Pattadar Pass Book, Rules 1989, Amending Orders G.O. M.S.No. 255 dated. 18-6-2016 notional subdivision numbers are being allotted to the pattadar/1B account holder as per sub-rule 1 of rule 19. In these circumstances the notional sub-division number or letter allotted to that sub-division should be assigned to the new sub-division of the pattadar.)
• Land acquisition sub-divisions made into temporary sub-divisions are all in fact belonging to the same classifications, and as land belonging to the same department, the said land acquisition subdivisions have to be certified to F.M.B as suitable for clubbing. Temporary Sub-division statement prepared in Board Standing Order No. 34-A Appendix VII Statement. In these records “Certificate that the Sub-Divisions. X, Y and Z are fit for clubbing” should be certified.
• The names of the pattadars/enjoyers in the acquired land should be noted. Sub-division statements should be prepared along with sub-division records. In this statement details such as subdivision number, classification, area, names of registered parties, signatures of parties etc. These details are to be entered in B.S.O. 34-A Appendix VII prescribed format.
• In Column 5 of the Temporary Subdivision Statement, “Name of the Present Register Holder” should be entered. In the said column, the names of those registered as pattadars(1B Khata) in the revenue records of the respective Subdivisions should be entered. The details of the Temporary Statement thus entered will be used in the land acquisition of award verification, and Useful for verification details for compensation of payee.

3. Permanent Sketch:

The subdivisions to be clubbed in the temporary subdivision sketch i.e the land acquired portions should be noted as one portion i.e one subdivision, Because the entire land acquired has to be considered as poramboke. Therefore, the area of land acquired is measured according to the actual ownership and all temporary subdivisions are clubbed. 3 copies of field maps and 3 copies of subdivision statements should be prepared for these records. Details of which subdivisions have been clubbed and which subdivisions have been formed in the said record as “Certified that the Sub Division No. X, Y & Z have been clubbed and denoted as X” is to be certified

The Sub-Division record should be sent for scrutiny to the Deputy inspector of survey through Mandal revenue officer covering letter.

1. 6(1) notification issued as per survey and boundaries act
2. Sub-Division Record
   A. Temporary Field Sketch, Temporary Subdivision Statement – 2 copies.
   B. Permanent Field Sketch, Permanent Sub Division Statement – 3 copies
   C. Copy of Resettlement Register
   D. Combined sketch

The said record is to be examined by the Deputy Inspector of survey in accordance with the procedure laid down in B.S.O. 34A, Appendix IX. After scrutiny, the pre-scrutinized sub-division record is sent to the Tahsildar / L.A.O.

3. Primary Value Verification (P.V. Stage):

After completion of Declaration & Summary of Rehabilitation & Resettlement(D.R.R), the surveyor shall prepare a P.V.sketch before the award verification as per section 5(b) of the Land Acquisition Act. Specify the details like class, type,etc and the sale and purchase details of registration lands which are surrounding about one kilometer or one mile distance from where land acquisition takes place. A sketch should be prepared, this is called P.V Sketch.

4. Award stage:

After completion of the P.V stage, the award investigation will be carried out by the Land Acquisition Officer as per 11(i) of Land Acquisition Act and therefore the award should be passed by L.A.O. After the award is passed, the different records are separated and the L.A.O will enter the Award No. and date on those record sketches. If the award number and date is not mentioned on the sketch, the post-award should be started only after taking the LAO’s signature on the sketch.

5. Post Award Stage:

The main objective of post award action is to legalise the newly formed sub-division survey and to register changes in mandal and village accounts. The Tahsildar will send the said record to Mandal Surveyor through Memo for changes to mandal and village accounts.

The Mandal Surveyor should enter the various records sent by the Tahsildar in the Mandal Register No.7 and in the current 8(A) register and enter the register serial number on the sketch and in the file. The new sub-division field sketches should be included in the village FMB in place of the respective old sketch i.e. on old sketch certified as

“Cancelled and fresh sketch enclosed as per 7 Reg.No ________Dt_______” 

and paste the new sketch on it and mentioned on it that

“Certified that the changes have been incorporated in village accounts as laid down in B.S.O.34(a) para 13 (b) as per 7R/8A No…………….

Further Sanctioned Sub Division boundaries are to be declared undisputed. The provisions of section 9(i) of the Survey and Boundaries Act shall certify that 

No dispute is brought up to my notice. The boundaries decided in the survey are correct and undisputed.

 The decision under section 9(i) should be informed to the pattadars, the department requesting the said land L.A , notices should be issued in accordance with Section 9(2) of the S&B Act and their acknowledgment should be preserved in the files.
If no objections are received within the statutory period of 60 days from the date of issue of the 9(2) notices, the matter should be certified on the backside of Field Sketch as follows.

“Certified that No Objections are received within 60 days from the date of service of 9(2) Notices under S&B Act 1923”.

The remaining two Permanent Sub-Division Sketches, Statements in the sub-division record should be sent to the Deputy Inspector for Final Scrutiny along with the award copy.

After examining the records so sent, the records are returned to the L.A.O. Changes have to be made in Mandal FMB after Final Scrutiny by surveyor, a copy of the subsequent actions made after award and 13 Notification of S&B act examined by DIOS is attached and sent to the District Collector for publication in the District Gazette.

Post Award Particulars to be submitted to L.A.O (or) M.R.O

1. Mandal Register (7R) Number
2. Mandal 8A Number
3. Date of serve of notices under Sec 9(2) of S&B Act.
4. Date of incorporation of changes in village accounts
5. Date of final scrutiny
6. Date of incorporation of Mandal accounts
7. Date of publication of notification under section 13 of S&B Act (award)

6. 13th Notification & Final check memo:

After publication of the notification in the District Gazette, a copy of the Gazette will be sent by the Collector to the concerned L.A.O. for advertisement in the village. After notification in the village, L.A.O prepares Final Check Memo of Land Acquisition Act and puts it on record and 8(A) file is also closed and ‘F’ Dis. placed on record.