Standard Operating Procedure for Direct Purchase of Land
Public Health Engineering, Land Purchase
Public Health Engineering Department
Government of West Bengal
N.S. Building, 7th Floor, 1, K. S. Roy Road, Kolkata 700001
Memo No: PHE/2196/1L-66/19 Dated: 18/09/2019
From: Dr. Manoj Pant, IAS Principal Secretary
PHE Department, Govt. of West Bengal
To: i) The Executive Engineer, ……………. (All Civil & Mechanical/ Electrical), PHE Dte.
ii) The Superintending Engineer, ………………… (All Civil & Mechanical/ Electrical), PHE Dte.
Sub.: Standard Operating Procedure for direct purchase of land.
Please recall the discussions we had in the meetings in the past one year on the subject above, in view of the significance of the issue the procedure is reiterated herein below for strict compliance.
i) There shall be a 4 (four) member committee, comprising of Executive Engineer (Civil), Assistant Engineer (Civil) of the concerned district/ project, representative from planning wing of PHE Directorate and an officer of the L&LR and RRR Department to be nominated by the District Collector, for identification of suitable land (s) for the proposed project (s).
ii) Based on the LOP Requiring Division shall first locate government vested land (Khatian-1), vacant land of other departments and parastatals for the proposed projects. The Requiring Division shall also explore and ascertain if the said project can be realigned or relocated to available government vested land.
iii) The committee shall conduct required field verification and ascertain availability of vested land parcels and those held by other government departments and parastatals for the project, in case such parcel of land is available and found to be free from encumbrances, the Committee shall place the report before the District Magistrate and the Collector of the concerned district who in-turn shall initiate a proposal for settlement/ Inter Departmental Transfer of the Government land in favour of the Requiring Department.
iv) In case the Government land is not available, the concerned Requiring Department in consultation with the officials of L & LR Department shall explore the possibility of realignment or relocation of the project as far as possible and technically feasible and ascertain if any such Government land is available in the relocated/ realigned positions. In case there is no such Government land available in spite of realignment and relocation, the Committee shall submit a report before the Collector who in-turn after due verification and on complete satisfaction shall inform the Requiring Department about the non-availability of Government land.
v) The Requiring Department on receipt of the report of District Magistrate & Collector shall in consultation with the L&LR and RRR officials identify suitable private land and initiate a proposal for direct purchase of land in accordance with the policy.
vi) The Requiring Department shall obtain market value of land from IGR West Bengal and then refer the proposal with draft Cabinet Note to Finance Department for necessary advice/concurrence.
vii) After concurrence of Finance Department, the proposal will be submitted for approval as per extant procedures to place before the Standing Committee of Cabinet on IIE for consideration.
The above guideline must be strictly complied before submission of any proposal for direct purchase of land. All necessary documentation including report of the Committee and the report of District Magistrate and Collector about non availability of government land must invariably be tagged with the proposal.
Please note that under no circumstances work at any site under any scheme/ project shall commence unless the required parcel(s) of land free from all encumbrances is in complete possession of the Division/ Department through Inter Departmental Transfer (IDT), acquisition or as per Direct Purchase Policy. Mere consent from land owner(s) shall not suffice to initiate work at the site. It is therefore expected that, planning for land is done well in advance and accessary approvals are obtained to ensure having land in possession before the work order is issued.
Please feel free to contact this office for any clarification in this regard.
Sd/- Manoj Pant