Jailtey: Opposition may use land Bill for political battle

“While there are not many serious obstacles, one obvious obstacle is that those steps which require legislative approval… some of them will have to go through a procedure while some of the bills will be carried relatively easily because they are rational and logical bills,” he said addressing students and faculty at Columbia University here.

He was replying to a question on what obstacles he sees in implementing economic reforms and measures. On the land Bill, Jaitley said, “I think they may want to use it for a political battle. Therefore, you will have to go through the whole Parliamentary process.”

The government has introduced a Bill to replace an ordinance promulgated last year making changes to the Land Acquisition Act passed during the UPA regime in 2013 ahead of the last year’s Lok Sabha elections. With political parties making clear their opposition, the Prime Minister said the government was ready to make some changes in the interest of farmers.

On the other bills to replace ordinances, Jaitley said some bills, including on coal and minerals, will be carried relatively easy because these are “rational and logical”. No one can oppose auction and say first-come-first-serve basis is the best for distribution of natural resources, he said.