By Sidhima Choudhary
The Uttarakhand Cabinet approved a new draft law on Wednesday prohibiting individuals outside the state from purchasing agricultural and horticultural land in 11 of the state’s 13 districts, calling it a ‘historic step.’ The draft of the law is set to be presented during the ongoing Budget Session of the Assembly.
The law is drafted with the aim to protect the state’s original identity withholding its resources and culture and in response to the long-established public demand for stricter land regulations in the state.
Pushkar Singh Dhami, CM of Uttarakhand initially indicated his intent to introduce the law in September last year calling it a ‘historic step’ for the development of Uttarakhand. He further posted about it on X.
With this new law, outsiders except those in districts like Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar can no longer be allowed to purchase agricultural and horticultural land in Uttarakhand. According to The Indian Express, if the district magistrates allow and approve any such land transactions, they will instantly lose their authority.
This new law is a significant shift from the existing rule where the law permitted non-residents to purchase land upto 250 square meters without any required permission outside the municipal boundaries. These amendments were made under the tenure of Harish Rawat, who was the former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
Whereas, in the year 2003 under the ND Tiwari-led Congress Government, the non-residents were allowed to purchase land upto a 500-square-meter limit. This was later revised and depreciated to 250 square meters in the year 2008 under BJP’s BC Khanduri government.
With the implementation of this law, a dedicated online portal has also been created to track all land transactions involving non-residents in the state. Therefore, after all such provisions in Uttarakhand, this new law has completely prohibited non-residents from buying agricultural land in most of the state.