National Monitoring Committee and the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority

1. National Monitoring Committee: sections 48 and 49

• Constitution. The Central Government may, whenever necessary, for national or inter-State projects, constitute a National Monitoring Committee to review and monitor the implementation of R&R schemes or plans under the Act (section 48(1)).
• Membership. Besides representatives of the concerned Ministries and Departments of the Central and State Governments, it may associate eminent experts from relevant fields (section 48(2)).
• Procedure and staff. Its procedure and the allowances of experts are prescribed; the Centre provides officers and employees (section 48(3)–(4)).
• Reporting (section 49). States and Union territories must give it all relevant information on matters covered by the Act regularly, in time, and whenever required.

2. State Monitoring Committee: section 50

Every State Government shall (not “may”) constitute a State Monitoring Committee to review and monitor the implementation of R&R schemes. It may associate experts; its procedure is prescribed by the State, which provides its staff. Below it are the Commissioner (section 44), the project-level R&R Committee for acquisitions of a hundred acres or more (section 45), and the Administrator (section 43).

The point to make in an answer is the gradation: Administrator (formulates and executes) → R&R Committee (monitors at project level, social audit) → Commissioner (supervises, social audit) → State Monitoring Committee → National Monitoring Committee (national and inter-State projects).

3. Establishment and composition of the Authority: sections 51 to 59

• Purpose (section 51). For speedy disposal of disputes relating to land acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, the appropriate Government establishes by notification one or more Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authorities, and specifies the area of each for references under section 64.
• One-person body (section 52). The Authority consists of one person, the Presiding Officer. One Presiding Officer may be asked to discharge the functions of another Authority as well.
• Qualification (section 53). He must be or have been a District Judge, or be a qualified legal practitioner of not less than seven years. He is appointed in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court.
• Term (section 54). Three years, or until the age of sixty-five, whichever is earlier.
• Staff, salary, vacancies (sections 55 to 57). A Registrar and staff; salary and conditions cannot be varied to his disadvantage; a vacancy is filled and proceedings continue from that stage.
• Resignation and removal (section 58). Removal only for proven misbehaviour or incapacity after an inquiry by a Judge of the High Court, with notice of the charges and a hearing.
• Section 59. Defects in constitution do not invalidate its proceedings.

4. Powers and status: sections 60 to 63

• Civil court powers (section 60(1)): summoning and examining on oath, discovery and production, evidence on affidavit, requisitioning public records, commissions, reviewing its own decisions, and other prescribed matters.
• Original jurisdiction over every reference under section 64 (section 60(2)).
• Procedure (section 60(3)). Not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure but guided by natural justice, and it regulates its own procedure.
• Time limit (section 60(4)–(5)). After notice and hearing, it disposes of a reference within six months, and delivers copies of the award within fifteen days.
• Judicial proceedings (section 61). Its proceedings are judicial proceedings for the offences of false evidence and insult to a public servant in judicial proceedings (the section still refers to sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code, now sections 229 and 267 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), and it is a civil court for the contempt procedure (now in the BNSS, 2023). Its members and officers are public servants (section 62).
• Bar of civil courts (section 63). No civil court, other than the High Court under Articles 226 and 227 or the Supreme Court, may entertain any dispute relating to land acquisition that the Collector or Authority is empowered to decide, and no injunction may be granted.

5. The reference: sections 64 to 68

Any person interested who has not accepted the award may, by written application to the Collector, require a reference to the Authority. The objection may be to:

• the measurement of the land;
• the amount of compensation;
• the person to whom it is payable;
• the rights of rehabilitation and resettlement under Chapters V and VI; or
• the apportionment of compensation among persons interested.

Limitation. The application must state its grounds and be made within six weeks of the award if the applicant was present or represented when it was made; otherwise within six weeks of receiving the section 21 notice or six months from the award, whichever expires first. The Collector may entertain a late application within a further one year for sufficient cause. He must make the reference within thirty days; if he fails, the applicant may ask the Authority to direct him to do so within thirty days.

A person who received compensation without protest cannot seek a reference (second proviso to section 77(2)). The Collector’s statement (section 65) sets out the land, the persons interested, the amounts awarded and the grounds. Notice goes to the applicant, the persons interested and, on area or amount, the Collector (section 66). The inquiry is restricted to the interests of those affected by the objection (section 67) and is held in public (section 68).

6. The award of the Authority: sections 69 to 73

• It examines whether the Collector followed sections 26 to 30 and Chapter V (section 69(1)).
• It awards 12 per cent a year on market value from the preliminary notification to the Collector’s award or possession, whichever is earlier, and 100 per cent solatium (section 69(2)–(3)).
• The award is in writing, signed, itemised by the heads of section 28, and is deemed a decree; its grounds are a judgment under the CPC (section 70).
• Costs ordinarily fall on the Collector if his award is not upheld (section 71).
• On any excess over the Collector’s award, interest at 9 per cent from possession, rising to 15 per cent after one year (section 72).
• Re-determination (section 73). Where the Authority enhances compensation, other owners covered by the same preliminary notification who were aggrieved but did not apply may, within three months of the Authority’s award, apply to the Collector for re-determination on that basis. A further reference lies against the Collector’s re-determination.

Karnataka, section 33A. Where the Authority under section 64 or the High Court under section 74 finds that money has been wrongfully paid to any person, the State or Deputy Commissioner recovers it as arrears of land revenue (inserted by Karnataka Act 16 of 2019).

7. Appeal to the High Court: section 74

The Requiring Body or any person aggrieved by the Authority’s award may appeal to the High Court within whose jurisdiction the land lies, within sixty days, extendable by a further sixty days for sufficient cause. The High Court is to endeavour to decide the appeal within six months.

How this is examined

“Explain the constitution, powers and functions of the LARR Authority” (June 2025) and “Discuss the provisions relating to establishment of the Authority” (August 2024) are answered with sections 3 to 7. “Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority” was a 6-mark short note in January 2026: give sections 51 to 54, 60 and 64 in outline. “National Monitoring Committee for R&R” was a 6-mark note in August 2024: sections 1 and 2 above.