Land reforms report report of Nani sarsan village of gujarat

Assignment on Land reforms

Dr. Dhaval Patel, IAS



1. Name of the offices, departments involved with land administration in the state
a. Government
i. Revenue minister
ii. Principal secretary, revenue department
iii. Special secretary, revenue (appeals)
iv. Principal secretary and commissioner land reforms
v. Relief commissioner
vi. Gujarat Revenue Tribunal
b. Directorate
i. Settlement commissioner and superintendent general of land records
c. District
i. Collector (for urban lands)
ii. District development officer (for rural lands)
iii. Superintendent of land records
iv. District inspector of land records
v. City survey superintendent
vi. Land acquisition officer
vii. Deputy collector - rehabilitation
viii. Deputy town planner
ix. District panchayat
d. Subdivision
i. Assistant collector / deputy collector
e. Taluk
i. Mamlatdar
ii. Taluka panchayat
f. Village
i. Talati (patvari)
ii. Gram Panchayat
iii. Maintenance surveyer (equivalent of talati in city survey area)
iv. Municipality
2. A brief note on history of settlement with mention of classification of land - Grouping of Crops - Levy of assessment
a. The survey and settlement was done at the time of Britishers.
b. Though it has been specifically stated in the Survey and Settlement Manual that the resettlement should be done at the interval of 30 years, no resurvey or resettlement had been done till recently.
c. The process of resurvey is ongoing in the districts of Jamnagar and Gandhinagar right now.
d. the survey in force was done with the help of cross staff - chain method which was a crude method and didn’t reflect true area of the land.
e. The land had been divided in three major classes: Jirayat (dryland), Bagayat (orchard) and Kyari (paddyfields).
f. The assessment was the highest for Kyari and lowest for Jirayat
g. The Jirayat land is unirrigated, and suitable for crops requiring less water
h. There are 8 types of fault classified in the Settlement manual. The lands which have these faults are assessed lesser than usual.
i. The rates of land revenue have not been revised from the date they came into existence. In earlier days, rs. 1 used to be big amount but even today the assessment is around rs 1/acre only and the government has already waived the land revenue. The only thing the agriculturists have to pay is education cess and Panchayat cess.
j. At the time of assessment there were surveyors and classers who did the whole survey and settlement procedure.


3. A note on the peasant struggle in the state after independence - not applicable
4. a brief note on the Abolition of estates and introduction of land reforms.
a. The following are the land reforms act in Gujarat
i. Bombay tenancy and agricultural land act, 1948
ii. Bombay tenancy and agricultural land act (extension to Kutch and Vidarbha region)
iii. Saurashtra Barkhali abolition act
iv. Saurashtra Estates abolition act
v. Saurashtra land reforms act
vi. Saurashtra Gharkhed ordinance
vii. Gujarat agricultural land ceiling act
viii. Gujarat urban land ceiling act - has been repealed
ix. Gujarat devasthan inam abolition act
x. Gujarat inam abolition act
b. The Bombay tenancy act applies to the part of Gujarat which was earlier part of Bombay province and Kutch, whereas the Saurashtra area of Gujarat is governed by different set of acts as aforementioned
c. The Bombay land revenue code of1989 is the principal act governing all the land transactions as well as land revenue collection, settlement. Even the post of collector and assistant collectors is created under this act.
d. Gujarat land revenue rule 1972 is the revised set of rules made under the Bombay LRC.
e. The tenures of Gujarat and Maharashtra need a special mention -
i. Old tenure - it is land held by the holder without any restriction
ii. New tenure (impartable) - this is the tenure of land given under ceiling act or government land given by auction or revenue free, which is not partable without previous consent of the Collector and without payment of a premium fixed by the Collector.
iii. Inam tenures -there were 7 types of Inams granted to the sevants of state or Britishers. The Inams were revenue free land granted in lieu of services rendered. All the Inams were gradually phased out by various land reform acts. The last to be phased out was "Devasthan Inam". The village which I studied was a Devasthan Inami village.
iv. Tenancy act s.43 restriction - these lands were given to the tenants under tenancy act. These lands can't be transferred or sold without previous sanction of collector and can't be converted to nonagricultural use without payment of premium.
v. Bombay LRC s.73AA restriction (tribal) - Bombay Land Revenue Code stipulates in s.73AA that the land of tribal will not be sold to non tribal without previous sanction of the collector.
vi. Bhoodan lands
f. The main difference in the implementation of land reform acts in Gujarat and other states is that at the time of implementation, the land reforms act was implemented in the true spirit of the act. Therefore it is extremely rare to find a big Jagirdar in Gujarat. The maximum land held by the holders is about the magnitude of 25 to 40 acres and that too in dry / barren areas.
g. The other main difference is that according to the Bombay Tenancy Act, no agriculturist can transfer his land to a non agriculturist without previous sanction of the collector. And the restriction placed in the rules is that such transfer will not be made if the annual income of the non agriculturist exceeds rs 5000/ annum. Thus effectively there cannot be any transaction of land from Agriculturist to non agriculturists. This provision is made to prevent the speculating in lands by big businessmen.
h. I would take the Bombay tenancy act as the example. The acts of Saurashtra region are almost similar.
i. The Bombay tenancy act prescribes one day as 'tillers' day'. Those whosoever had the physical occupation of the land on the tillers' day was to be given the land title
ii. The act also forestalled the sale/ transfer of lands which are under the occupation of the tenants by declaring all the transactions made in respect of the land operated by the tenants from the date of the placement of the draft on the floor of the legislature, null and void.
iii. Then both the tenant and the landlord were given a hearing and if found true, the tenant was given the title of the land held by him.
iv. The landlord was allowed to retain the land under his personal cultivation and for homestead purpose.
v. The tenant was to pay the landlord the occupation price for the land handed over to him. This was a minimal amount - about 6 times the assessment of the land.
vi. Even then some tenants were not able to pay the amount to the landlords. The government didn’t make those tenants suffer. The government paid all the money to the landlord on tenant's behalf and entered the amount in the land record as the arrears of land revenue and asked the tenants to pay it back in installment (known as Tagavi). Thus even the poor could get the land in land reforms and the landlords were also given some remuneration (even though meager).
i. The agricultural land ceiling act:
i. The Gujarat Agricultural land ceiling act was enacted to take the excess land from the big landholders and to distribute them to small holders.
ii. The act provided the maximum extent of land as could be held by a family.
iii. It also held transfers of lands after the placement of the bill in legislature invalid so as to defeat the purpose of the unscrupulous landlords.
iv. The land which was declared finally surplus was given to the landless, small and marginal holders as per the norms on New and Impartable tenure.


5. What are the problems encountered by the state with respect to tribal land alienation?
a. According to the s.73AA of Bombay Land Revenue Code, a tribal cannot transfer his land to a tribal or non tribal without previous sanction of the government. It would be "BREACH OF CONDITION " (known as Sharatbhang). If such breach of condition is found, the land is transferred to government account.
b. But the act also foresees a situation in which the tribal is forced by monetary crunch to sell it to non tribal under the pressure from non tribal. In that case if the tribal applies to the Collector, the collector can take the land from the non tribal and give it back to the original owner
c. Any transfer of tribal land (even though by registered document) without Collector's consent is considered illegal.
d. The implication of this restriction is that no one wants to buy tribal land because they will have to go to the collector and get the permission and pay all the dues on the land and pay premium to the government according to 50% of market price for agricultural use and 80% of market price for non agricultural use. Therefore the actual cost of buying a tribal land for non agricultural use is 180% of market value.
e. Therefore now the situation is that even though the lands of tribal is in the same location as of other lands, it fetches less prices as the buyer has to pay the premium to the collector.
f. Thus it is a major problems for tribals who have lands near cities or towns. Neither the lands are easily saleable nor does it fetch good value vis a vis non tribal land.
g. The encroachment of tribal land by nontribal land is considerably small because the non tribal cannot get the land in his name. Usually the tribal lands are on the hill and not suitable for non agricultural use. And for agricultural use, non tribal lands cost cheaper than tribal land (including government premiums)
h. Thus there is a need to amend the act as far as it pertains to lands in the vicinity of a municipality of big villages (let's say 5000 population) and allow tribals to sell to non tribals
6. How the Common Pool Resources (Land, water, forests) utilized by the natives and are there any legislation supporting or resisting the usage?
a. There was no law recognizing the rights of the natives over the land, forest or water sources.
b. But after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act 2006, their rights are being recognized by the government
c. This act provides for the individual as well as community rights of the tribals over the land they have been cultivating in the forest as well as forest produce and many other forest resources, subject to the condition of sustainable use.
d. There are so many claims before the FRC (Forest rights committee), SDLC (subdivisional level committee) and DLC (District level committee) to consider and settle their rights and issue the "Letter of Right" to them.
e. Even some of the tirbals who were in legal battle with the forest department have been given the rights which they deserved.
7. measures taken by the government prohibiting encroachment on natural resources such as water courses, forests, mineral wealth containing land, hills etc.?
a. As far as the water course in agricultural land is concerned, there is a Bombay Riparian Right act which recognizes the rights of the riparians over the water passing nearby their fields. And as far as the water course in the forest land is concerned, the forest rights act provides for it. Anybody who is adversely affected in enjoyment of right to water can bring it to the notice of revenue authorities or the court and get his grievance redressed.
b. The encroachment on forest and forest produce were controlled by the Indian Forest act and wildlife preservation act. But since the forest rights act has been enacted, the previous encroachments have to be regularized and there is incentive for more encroachment on forest land in anticipation of regularization. There should be some penalty in the Forest rights act for such mischievous fellows who want to grab more and more forest lands. The forest officials are also more averse to the idea of penalizing the encroachers because sooner or later the government starts regularizing the encroachments and the fine slips issued by the forest department is used against the forest department to show that particular person was cultivating the forest land of such and such extent and finally it is regularized.
c. The encroachments on mineral wealth is controlled by the Indian mines and minerals act and Gujarat Minor Minerals rules. The D.M issues leases and permits for minor minerals and mining commissioner issues leases and permits for major minerals. But the leases or permits issued are not upto the need of the day and therefore there is always a theft of minerals and evasion of royalty. The lease holders also don't allow opening up of new leases near their lease and therefore there is always an artificial shortage in minerals and therefore the theft never stops.
8. How does the record of enjoyment of land by individuals, groups, institutions both Private and Public maintained by the Government? Mehods? Specify the forms, records in use
a. Records of rights in Gujarat are maintained in the formats known as form no 6, 7/12, and 8A. (the number refers to the number ascribed to the formats in the Manual of Revenue Accounts as prescribed by Anderson).
b. The landholder has a duty to inform the government about any transaction of land he might enter into.
c. As and when any land holder informs the e-dhara Deputy mamlatdar (the officer in charge of the computerized land records at taluk level), deputy mamlatdar issues notices to concerned interested parties to invite any objections which might exist in the entry
d. If no objections are received and there is no violation of any law for the time being in force, the entry is certified and the change in the land record is made absolute by competent authority.
e. If objections are received, Mamlatdar hears the case and decides the dispute on merit and by speaking order disposes the entry as either certified or rejected, and the land records are changed accordingly.

9. How are the land records maintained in the state? What are the records? Registers maintained for village land administration? How entries are made? Name them and write a short not on the formats used.

a. The land records in the state has been computerized. The record of rights are computerized to the major extent and Khatauni (known as 7/12 and 8A in Gujarat) is available from computerized print
b. The following are the records to be maintained at the village level for revenue administration
i. Form 1 - records information regarding the area, class of soil, details of cultivable, noncultivable land and assessment thereof (agricultural land)
ii. Form 1A - records information regarding the forest land (maintained in villages where more than 5 survey numbers are declared as forest)
iii. Form 2 - same as form 1 but for non agricultural land
iv. Form 3 - Inami land register (details of Inami lands - this is obsolete as Inams have been abolished
v. Form 4 - the book of miscellaneous income - this is the book in which all the unpredicted incomes such as fine or the revenue generated from leasing out of government land is recorded
vi. Form 5 - the register of final revenue accouts - this register has the details of all the land revenue to be collected from village holderwise and the details of various kinds of land types.
vii. Form 6 - Record of rights - in this register all the mutation entries are made. The entries are given a unique number and this number is written in the 7/12 for reference if the entry is certified. Earlier the entries were made by talatis, but now the entries are made in computer. The entries after 2005 are computerized.
viii. Form 7/12 is a joint form which has two parts - form 7- this is a very important document which the farmer needs for all kinds of transaction including taking loan from bank. In this form the details of field, its tenure, the name of the holders, the area of the field, its assessment, the reference to the entries made in village form 6 with respect to this particular survey number (from which you can trace the entries in the form 6). This data is fully computerized. (it shows details of the holders of a particular survey number)
ix. Form 8A - this is the Khata register - it gives details of all the survey number held in name of a khata (it shows all the survey number in which the holder has a title). In deciding the total land revenue to be taken from a Khatedar, the total revenue claim of the khatedar as per the form 8A is calculated.
x. Form 8B - form of the revenue to be recovered from the khatedars
xi. Form 8C - register of education cess
xii. Form 9 - the cashbook register
xiii. Form 10 - the receipt of acknowledgement of land revenue
xiv. Form 11 - the calculation of the revenue claim from individual Khatedar
xv. Form 12 - it shows the cropping pattern and the person who is having physical occupation of the land at the time of inspection. After computerization the inspection has been stopped and the form is not updated as per the field reality.
xvi. Form 13 to 18 are not related to the land revenue
c. The form no 6.7/12 and 8A are directly related to record of rights.
d. Form no 1/2/3 are under the control of the Settlement commissioner and district inspector of land records. As and when there is a change in the area of a survey number, the change is measured and entered in the village form 1/2/3 as per the report of the survey department. They are also being computerized. Once they are computerized, it will be linked to the records of rights. (e.g. when 1 acre of survey number 124 is acquired for canal, it will be surveyed by survey department and the department will give the order to change the area of original survey number to be decreased by one acre, its assessment will also be decreased accordingly. And the same 1 acre will be entered in the revenue records as survey number 124/1and transferred in name of the irrigation department. Currently this is done as and when the order of the change (kami - jasti patrak ) is received by patvari or mamlatdar. But once both systems are fully connected, as soon as the survey department gives the thumb impression all the entries will be made in respective record of rights also without any human interference.
10. not applicable
11. how do the landed properties get transferred from one owner to another? How the change is incorporated in Government Records?
a. For properties transferred by order of revenue officials or court and descent, there is no need to get a registered document made.
b. But for other properties, registered document is necessary.
c. The person who gets any interest in a piece of land by any means is under obligation to report the same to the revenue officials
d. When they apply for change, the entry is made without any scrutiny and notices are sent to the interested parties.
e. If no objections are received and the deal doesn’t violate any land related law, the entry is certified and changes are made in the records of right accordingly.
f. If objections are received, the parties are heard and the case disposed off on merits
12. What are the trends of Land Market? How land value is determined by the Government and Market? Is the value fixed by the Government coincides with Market value with which transactions occur?
a. The real estate is on the growth.
b. At the same time the pressure over the agricultural land is also increasing.
c. The prices of land is on the increase. Also because of Narmada canal, the land which was earlier barren and not of much value have also started fetching good remuneration
d. Land value determination by Government - the government usually takes the following factors into consideration while deciding the value of the land - the fertility of land, facility of irrigation, vicinity to the urban area, vicinity to the road, whether the land is agricultural or non agricultural, the land transactions in the nearby locality in last 5 years, opinion of revenue officials, valuation according to the town planner, the valuation according to the Jantri (basic valuation register made up by taking data of land prices on regular intervals) etc. the stamp duty has to be paid according to Jantri. there can be no registered document of transfer of land below Jantri price. The district level committee headed by the Collector decides the valuation of land.
e. The markets take into consideration the factors of demand and supply over and above the factors mentioned above.
f. The value decided by the government never corresponds to the market value. The main cause is that he registered documents are usually of lower value to evade stamp duty. And the government takes into account the figures of sale of last five years in the same locality therefore the valuation of government is always on a lower side.

13. Do the local bodies play a role in Land Administration?
a. The local bodies play a role in land administration
b. The non agricultural use permission is granted by the Taluka Panchayat in case of rural land <2 acres and for villages having population < 5000.
c. For >2 acres or villages with population > 5000, the District Panchayat gives N.A permission
d. The local authority also give letter of consent to start any non agricultural activity (after checking that the holder pays all the village panchayat or municipality dues)
14. How can 'Jamabandhis' make a positive impact on Land Administration?
a. There has been no resettlement or fresh survey and settlement in Gujarat after independence even though the settlement manual lays down that the survey and settlement should be carried out at interval of 30 years. Gujarat government has also waived agricultural land revenue.
b. Therefore I am not in a position to comment how the Jamabandhi would affect land administration
c. But theoretically jamabandhi establishes the records of rights of all the holders and therefore the disputes can be minimized.
d. As the boundaries of fields are set up freshly in survey operations, the boundary disputes may be settled amicably.
15. Description of the village (Nani Sarsan):
Santrampur is the block of which the study village is a part. This block is Scheduled area as well as one of the backward blocks. The study village (Nani Sarsan) is situated west of the Block headquarter of Santrampur. The history of the village is very interesting. The priest of the temple in the village held whole of the land of this village at the time of Santrampur princely state. This land tenure is known in Gujarat as "DEVASTHAN INAMI TENURE". Under this tenure, the kings used to give priests or administrators of a temple whole right to collect land revenue from the tenants and didn't take any revenue from the priest or administrator (c.f. Jagirdari - kings used to take the revenue from Jagirdars). The land revenue accrued to the priest was for his maintenance and the maintenance of the temple expenditure. Around 1960s the "Gujarat Devasthan Inami Tenure Abolition Act" was implemented and the land was given to the tiller.
16. the methodology of the field study:
a. the data was obtained from record of rights for the land declared surplus and distributed
b. the whole village was Devasthan Inami. Therefore all the landholders of village who were interviewed in the household schedule were also asked about the effect of the land reforms. But majority of them didn't know that the land has been given as a measure of land reforms because not many of the elderly were available.
17. analysis of data obtained from the villages on each of the items of land reforms, e.g. land ceiling, Benami landholder, tenancy, distribution of Government land and status of Land records and Tribal situation
a. ceiling land redistribution of land
i. land covered under the Devasthan inami tenure abolition
1. land initially declared surplus - 231.27 ha.
2. land finally declared surplus - 231.27 ha
3. land released - 231.27 ha
4. land pending under litigation - 0 ha
ii. group status of landowners covered under the law
Number of beneficiaries Area in hectare
SC 9 15.68
ST 7 19.85
OBC 7 13.81
Other castes 59 181.93

iii. land ceiling and distribution
1. land declared surplus -231.27
2. land taken possession by the Government -231.27
3. land distributed - 231.27
4. land under cultivation - 231.27
5. no. of beneficiaries who got possession of land - 82
iv. Classification of beneficiaries who got possession of land (Area in ha.)
Number of beneficiaries Area
SC 9 21.30
ST 7 20.49
OBC 7 13.81
Others 59 181.93
The change in the land holding of SC and ST is because of another inam abolition - service inam under which the land was given to the Patel of the village revenue free. When the abolition act came into existence, the tillers got the land
v. Land area under litigation - nil
18. recommendations: legal and administrative measures for implementation
a. The survey department has less staff, and the land transactions are on the increase. Therefore the changes in the records of right get delayed because of delay in the survey and final Kami Jasti Patrak. There should be more surveyors maybe on contractual basis.
b. The s.73 AA of Bombay land revenue code has to be amended as far as it pertains to tribal land which are situated nearer to the towns or cities so that they can sell the land without hassle
c. The new tenure lands should be converted to the old tenure land. These lands were given to the farmers for self tilling. But after passage of 2 or 3 generation, it is not fair on part of state governments to levy premium if such land is to be sold to somebody. It should be without restriction
d. The non agricultural use permission is with the Taluka Panchayat and District Panchayat for rural lands. These should be restored back to Collectors. Nowadays the rural lands near the cities or towns are as good as urban lands. And there are too many extraneous considerations going on in local bodies. It is not fit to give them such a responsibility.
e. There should be fresh survey and settlement - the survey and settlement is done according to the chain and cross-staff method of land survey. Now the value of land is on the increase therefore the land measurements have to be perfect. In fact resurvey operations are on in the Jamnagar district of Gujarat with use of Differential GPS system and Electronic Total Station survey equipments so that the measurements are perfect.

19. complete bibliography
a. Anderson's Manual of Revenue Accounts
b. Gordon's Survey and Settlement manual
c. The records of rights held by Talati
d. The entries of record of right by which the land were transferred from the name of the administrator of the temple to the tillers.
e. Data filled in the village schedule.
f. Computerized formats of records of rights