 Land Acquisition” literally means acquiring of land for some public purpose by government/government agency, as authorized by the law, from the individual landowner(s) after paying a government fixed compensation in lieu of losses incurred by land owner(s) due to surrendering of his/their land to the concerned government agency.

 The land acquisition act of 1894 was created with the expressed purpose of facilitating the government’s acquisition of privately held land for public purposes.  The word "public purpose", as defined in the act, refers to the acquisition of land for putting up educational institutions or schemes such as housing, health or slum clearance, apart from the projects for rural planning or formation of sites.

 Regulation of the land acquisition act was first enacted by the British government in the year  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, canal 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.

 The word "government" refers to the central government if the purpose for acquisition is for the union and for all other purposes it refers to the state government.  It is not necessary that all the acquisition has to be initiated by the government alone.  Local authorities, societies registered under the societies registration act, 1860 and cooperative societies established under the co- operative societies act can also acquire the land for developmental activities through the government.

 The Constitution originally provided for the right to property under Articles 19 and 31.  Article 19 guaranteed to all citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose off property.  Article 31 provided that "no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law."  It also provided that compensation would be paid to a person whose property has been taken for public purposes.  The provisions relating to the right to property were changed a number of times.  The Forty-Forth Amendment of 1978 deleted the right to property from the list of fundamental rights

 A new provision, Article 300-A, was added to the constitution which provided that "no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law".  Thus if a legislature makes a law depriving a person of his property, there would be no obligation on the part of the State to pay anything as compensation.  The aggrieved person shall have no right to move the court under Article 32.  Thus, the right to property is no longer a fundamental right, though it is still a constitutional right.

 If the government appears to have acted unfairly, the action can be challenged in a court of law by citizens.  The liberalization of the economy and the government's initiative to set up special economic zones has led to many protests by farmers and have led to calls for the reinstatement of the fundamental right to private property.  The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the government questioning why the right should not be brought back but in 2010 the court rejected the PIL  As in 2007 the supreme court unanimously said that the fundamental rights are a basic structure of the constitution and cannot be removed or diluted.

 Land and building department of government of Delhi is responsible for large scale acquisition of land for planned development of Delhi and placing it at the disposal of DDA for development and disposal. It has 4 main branches land acquisition branch, alternative plot branch E.P cell and housing loan branch.

PART I PRELIMINARY  1. Short title and commencement.  2. Interpretation.

PART II  COMPULSORY ACQUISITION  (a) President may acquire lands  3. Power of President to acquire lands.  4. Definition of public purpose.  5. Preliminary investigation.  6. Notice of intention to take lands.  7. Notice of intention to take and power to take possession.  8. Service and publication of notice.  9. Party not to be compelled to sell or convey part of a house.  10. Owners of interested lands may insist on same being taken.

(b) Compensation  11. Government to pay compensation.  12. Restriction on compensation.  13. Disputes as to compensation, etc.  14. Assessment of compensation.  15. Interest.  16. Effect of decision of court and postponement of payment of  compensation.  17. Parties in possession as owner to be deemed entitled to lands.  18. Payment to operate as discharge.

(c) Miscellaneous  19. When the President may withdraw from the acquisition of land  20. Costs and execution in proceedings in which Government is party.  21. Proceedings where possession of lands withheld.  22. Penalty for obstruction.  23. Effect of service of notice.  24. Saving for acquisition by agreement or under any law.