Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says, the 2013 Land Act was badly drafted legislation and had a lot of ambiguities and obvious errors. Replying to questions being raised with regard to the nature and future of the Land Acquisition Law in India, Mr. Jaitley in a Facebook post said, the effect of certain provisions of this Act is contrary to the language used therein and a series of legitimate difficulties would arise once the Act is implemented. He said it was at the request of the state governments that the amendment to Land Acquisition law of 2013 was issued. Mr. Jaitley said, after the issuance of the Ordinance, the Congress Party changed its position and wanted to oppose the Ordinance for political reasons.<br/><br/>Noting that the objective of the 2015 Ordinance was to give a certain amount of flexibility to states as they know their requirements best, Mr. Jaitley said it was made available to them after the decision taken in Chief Ministers' meeting held under the aegis of NITI Aayog.<br/><br/>The Finance Minister said, acquisition of property being a concurrent list subject States are fully empowered to amend the 2013 Land Law and seek Presidential assent before the amendment can be effected. One State has already brought the amendments and some others are likely to follow. The States can provide for alternative mechanism which balances the interests of farmers and also provides for land required for acquisition.