Following the footsteps of Himachal Pradesh, the Uttarakhand government may soon enact legislation to discourage non-natives from purchasing land in the Himalayan state. A special committee on land law appointed by CM Pushkar Singh Dhami has completed its report, which advocates against non-natives having land ownership rights.
While committee members refused to share the draft report's contents, well-placed sources familiar with it said the draft report includes harsh provisions intended to discourage non-domiciles from purchasing land in Uttarakhand's hill regions.
According to sources, the draft report advocates for a complete ban on non-native land ownership rights in the state's hill areas. According to sources, the committee will instead recommend leasing out land in the hills to non-natives in order to preserve locals' ownership rights.
"The report has been completed. It will be formalized on August 23 and submitted to the government once the CM approves the meeting time. "The report will be submitted to the CM by the end of this month," said Subhash Kumar, the committee's chairman and a former state chief secretary.
When asked about the draft report's recommendations, Kumar stated that it is "against the protocol to divulge the contents of the report," but that "all efforts have been made to keep the ethos of the mandate given to the committee intact." He stated that the committee's main goal was to "keep land ownership rights of the state's natives intact, without interfering with state development."
Kumar went on to say that the committee drafted the report after conducting a thorough examination of the state's existing land laws and the "need for change in the interest of the people of Uttarakhand." According to unnamed officials, the draught report also advocates capping the land size for a single industrial unit in select areas of the state at 12.5 acres (1 acre equals 4,047 square metres).
It advocates for the allotment of land for industrial purposes on the Himachal Pradesh model, as well as the repeal of all previous tax breaks granted to industries in the state. According to the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms 1972, anyone seeking to purchase land outside municipal areas for the purpose of establishing an industrial unit must obtain permission from the appropriate authorities; this permission is granted only after the authority is satisfied about the applicant's ability to use the land for the stated purpose.
Other important recommendations in the draft report include limiting district magistrates' land allocation rights and repealing provisions that allow for changes in agricultural land usage.
