There is a law that empowers governments to acquire land for development activities or other public purposes. Once a notification is issued to acquire land for such purposes, the right of the landowner is completely extinguished, whether or not development is carried out on the land in question. Thus, whether or not a specific type of development is carried out on the land covered by the notification, the land in question will remain as it is. The result will be a situation where no kind of purchase or sale is possible. There are many properties notified in this way in all the states of the country.

Governments complete the land acquisition process after paying compensation. Therefore, the landowner cannot claim his property later. The old landowner can only sigh seeing the land lying idle without doing anything. The central government, having understood the grievances of the landowners, is considering a new law to return the land to the owner if the specific development plan is not implemented for five years on the land acquired by the government for the national highway. The draft law related to this has been studied by the relevant central departments. There are notifications for land acquisition in many parts of the country related to the development of national highways. However, due to various reasons, many of these have not been started on time. Such land is lying idle.

There are such lands in many districts of Kerala. For example, it has been 34 years since land was acquired for the Kochi-Madurai National Highway in Tripunithura. The project is still on paper. Like this, the state government has also acquired acres of land to start industries. The land is lying idle with plants and overgrowth, and no development is taking place. It is a relief to the landowners that compensation is now being paid according to the market price for the acquired land. The 2013 law is helpful. Before that, the government used to acquire land at a minimal price. Additional compensation for the acquired land has to be approached in court! This sometimes takes many years. It also costs a lot of money. In a situation where land prices are rising all over the country, it is natural for any landowner to want the highest possible price for the land given by the government.

National highway development is going on rapidly all over the country. People are now not hesitant to give up their land like they used to. This is because they are getting a good amount of compensation based on the market price. A verdict issued by the Supreme Court the other day had prevented the return of acquired land to the owner. The court ruled that there is no provision for such in the current law. However, this verdict of the Supreme Court can be overturned when the proposed amendment bill becomes law.