President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday gave his assent to re-promulgation of the land ordinance, which was to expire next month.Rashtrapati Bhavan officials told IANS the President signed the ordinance before leaving on an official visit to Sweden and Belarus.The recommendation for re-promulgation of the ordinance was sent to the President after the union cabinet cleared it on Saturday.The move was strongly criticised by opposition parties, mainly the Congress.
The land bill is currently with a Joint Committee of Parliament for detailed discussion on the provisions of the controversial legislation.This is the third time the land acquisition ordinance has been promulgated.The ordinance was first promulgated in December last year to amend the act passed by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2013. It was again re-promulgated in April.