Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced in the Session on July 9 that the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act-1947, which prohibits the sale of agricultural lands in pieces, would be relaxed.
As per this decision, the Government appointed a 10-member committee to issue guidelines on the repeal of the Fragmentation Act in the next 15 days. Whether there will be an exemption from the Fragmentation Act after July 31 or the law will be repealed will be clear after the committee's report.
The land transactions were banned due to the fragmentation law. As the law will be repealed, this will help to make free land deals free from oppressive conditions. The State Stamps and Registration Department issued a circular on the fragmentation rule on July 12, 2021, which has restricted the registry of all houses, lands, and plots except NA-44.
Property purchase and sale transactions on stamp papers (bonds) have come to a halt. Due to the lockdown, transactions of plots and old constructions in all non-NA colonies near the city, including Gunthewari colonies, have come to a standstill.
Transactions of houses and plots in societies have stopped. Farmers are suffering as less than half an acre of land has not been sold for four years. Many were forced to carry out family auspicious works due to debt. In view of the ban on the fragmentation of land, it was time to mortgage the land to moneylenders.
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Govt Committee
The panel, headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of Revenue, comprising Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), Revenue and Forest Department, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development-1), Principal Secretary (Rural Development), Settlement Commissioner of Land Records, Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Director (Town Planning), and Joint/Deputy Secretary (Law and Judiciary Department). Additionally, a member (Administrative) of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Tribunal and a retired Director (Town Planning) will provide guidance as special invitees. The committee will have to submit a report by July 31.
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What exactly is committee going to do?
The committee will work to determine the procedure for coordinated development as per the provisions of the Land Division Prohibition Act, 1947, facilitate the process of regularisation of divisions, determine SOPs for their recording in the records, suggest amendments to the law, and determine the procedure for regularisation of registered purchase transactions in a campaign form.