Land Acquisition Act, 1894 - History of Land Acquisition Act

History of Land Acquisition Act

Regulation I of the land acquisition act was first enacted by the British government in the year 1824. Its application was throughout the whole of the Bengal provinces immediately subject to the Presidency of Fort William. The rules empowered the government to acquire immovable property at, what was deemed to be, a fair and reasonable price for construction of roads, canals or other public purposes. In 1850 some of the provisions of regulation I of 1824 were extended to Calcutta through Act I of 1850, with a view to confirm the land titles in Calcutta that were acquired for public purposes. At that time a railway network was being developed and it was felt that legislation was needed for acquiring land for the purposes of the railways. Building act XXVII of 1839 and act XX of 1852 were introduced to obviate the difficulties pertaining to the construction of public buildings in the cities of Bombay and Madras. Act VI of 1857 was the first full enactment, which had application to the whole of British India. It repealed all previous enactments relating to acquisition and its object. Subsequently, Act X of 1870 came in to effect which was further replaced by the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, a completely self contained act, in order to purge some of the flaws of act X of 1870.

After the independence of India in 1947, the Indian government adopted the 1894 Land Acquisition Act. Since then various amendments have been made from time to time but the administrative procedures have remained same.