By Anup P. Shah | Chartered Accountant
Laws and Business
1. Introduction :
Land laws are a species in themselves. Even within land laws,
laws relating to agricultural land can be classified as a separate class. One
comes across numerous terms and concepts while dealing with agricultural land,
e.g., NA Land, Land Ceiling, Land used for bona fide industrial use, etc. It is
quite common for agricultural land to be converted into non-agricultural land
and being used for industrial purposes or being used for real estate
development. However, it is very important that the correct process is followed
while dealing with agricultural land or else there is a risk of land being
acquired by the Government. Several real estate developers have suffered because
the correct process was not followed. Through a series of articles over the next
few months, I propose to explain the important concepts under some of the key
laws relating to agricultural land.
Agricultural land in Maharashtra is governed by several Acts,
the prominent amongst them being the following :
(a) Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 applicable to the
State of Maharashtra.
(b) Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 —
applicable to the Bombay Area of the State of Maharashtra and State of
Gujarat, i.e., the whole of Maharashtra and Gujarat except Marathwada (Latur,
Nanded, Aurangabad) and Vidarbha (Nagpur, Akola, etc.) regions.
(c) Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings)
Act, 1961.
In this Article, we will look at the Maharashtra Land
Revenue Code, 1966 (‘Code’) which deals with the law relating to
agricultural land and land revenue in the State. Land revenue is an important
source of revenue for State Governments.
2. Revenue areas and officers :
2.1 For ease of administration, the Government has u/s.4 of
the Code divided the State into various revenue areas.
2.2 Under the Act, the State is divided into divisions,
e.g., the city of Mumbai along with its suburbs constitutes one division.
Similarly, there is the Aurangabad Division, Pune Division, Nagpur Division,
etc.
Each division consists of one or more districts,
including the City of Mumbai. Each district may consist of one or more
sub-divisions.
Each sub-division may consist of one or more
talukas.
Each taluka consists of certain villages. A
village includes a town or city and all land belonging to a village, town or a
city.
A group of villages in a taluka constitutes a saza.
The saza may consist of up to eight and in some cases 15 villages. It is a
function of administrative convenience, population, etc.
2.3 Accordingly, the Government has created the following
revenue areas :
(a) Divisions
(b) Districts
(c) Sub-Divisions
(d) Talukas
(e) Sazas
(f) Revenue Circles
2.4 Based on the revenue areas, the Government has created a
hierarchy of various revenue officers for the administration of various matters,
for the assessment and collection of land revenue, for conducting surveys,
maintaining accounts, records, etc. The hierarchy of officers is as follows :
- Divisional Commissioner/Additional/Assistant Divisional Commissioner.
- District Collector/Additional/Deputy Collector which are appointed for
each district and who is in charge of the revenue administration of a
district.
- Taluka Tahsildar/Naib-Tahsildar/Additional Tahsildar in charge of each
taluka and who is the chief officer entrusted with the revenue administration
of a taluka.
- Circle Officers/Inspectors for each Circle
- Kotwals for each village or group of villages
The Code lays down the powers and functions of each type of
revenue officer.
3. Title of lands :
3.1 U/s.20, all public property, e.g., roads, bridges, etc.,
and land which is not the property of persons legally capable of holding
property is declared to be the property of the State Government and
vests in it. Hence, any land which, under law, is not owned by any person, who
under law can own such property, would be the subject-matter of this Section.
The Collector is empowered to deal with and dispose of all such land in any
manner as he deems fit, subject to the Commissioner’s orders. Thus, any land
held by a person who, by virtue of any statute is capable of holding property in
its own name, e.g., by companies, major individuals, etc., would be excluded
from the operation of this Section. Thus, any land which is not the property of
others would vest in the State Government.
3.2 The Collector may by issuing a notice and following the
due process claim any property by or on behalf of the Government. This order is
subject to one appeal and revision under the Code.
4. Types of land and holders :
4.1 Land can be classified into two types :
(a) Alienated — means that which is revenue-free and
is owned by any person. Thus, no revenue is payable to the Government. This
would include land such as imans and watans.
(b) Unalienated — land other than alienated land.
This is the regular land which is subject to land revenue assessment.
4.2 The land holders can be classified as given in Table
below.
5. Land records:
5.1 One of the important provisions dealt with by the Code is the maintenance of the Land Records in respect of various lands.
Table 1: Types of land holders
|
Type
|
Govt. Lessee
|
Tenant
|
Holder
|
Occupant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meaning
|
Unalienated
land leased by
|
Lessee
of land includes
|
Person
holding
|
Person
holding
|
|
|
|
the Collector to any person
|
a mortgagee of tenant’s
|
alienated land
|
unalienated land and
|
|
|
|
on such terms as deemed fit
|
rights with possession,
|
|
excludes a tenant or
|
|
|
|
by the Collector
|
but not a lessee holding
|
|
a Government lessee
|
|
|
|
|
directly under the State
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Government
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Classes
|
Could
be classified
|
—
|
—
|
Occupants
are
|
|
|
|
as Class III
|
|
|
further divided into
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class I and Class
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
II depending upon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
since when they are
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
holding the land
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
or the restrictions
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
placed upon their
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
holding
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Whether-
|
Under
general law, a lease
|
No
express provision.
|
Yes,
since he is an
|
Yes,
S. 36 of the
|
|
|
Heritable
|
is inheritable. However, if
|
However, in Shriman-
|
absolute holder
|
Code provides for
|
|
|
|
the terms and conditions
|
tibai Nargude v. Bhimrao
|
|
the same
|
|
|
|
provide otherwise, then
|
Nargude, 2009 (1) Bom
|
|
|
|
|
|
the same would prevail
|
CR 265 it was held that it
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
is inheritable
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.2 Record of rights:
For every village a record of rights would be maintained which would contain the following particulars:
(a) Names of all persons who are holders, occupants, owners, tenants, owners, mortagees of the land or assignees of the rent or revenue from it
(b) Names of all Government lessees or tenants
(c) Nature and extent of respective interest of such persons and the conditions or liabilities, if any
(d) Revenue or rent payable by such persons
Thus, all rights, interests and liabilities qua a piece of land are recorded in one document. These records are maintained by the Talathi of each village.
5.3 If any person acquires any right by virtue of succession, survivorship, inheritance, purchase, partition, mortgage, gift, lease, etc., in any land, then he must give a notice of the same to the Talathi within three months of such event.
The Talathi would then enter such changes in a Register of Mutations which would alter the original record of rights.
5.4 Any person buying land especially in a rural or semi-urban area would be well advised to do a thorough title search by checking the Record of Rights, Register of Mutations, etc., which would show whether or not the land in question is an agricultural land, who is the owner, what important developments have taken place in respect of the land, etc.
5.5 In the next Article we shall look at the process for converting an agricultural land into a non-agricultural land.
