Land conversion law to be amended

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The state revenue department has decided to amend the existing law to allow agricultural land to be converted into non-agricultural use based on a self-declaration of farmers.

“The existing Act would be amended to make land conversion without any hassles. The land conversion will be okayed within three days based on the affidavits filed by the farmers seeking conversion of their agricultural land,” said Revenue Minister R Ashoka.

The revenue minister said the Section 95 of Karnataka Land Revenue Act 1964 would be amended to facilitate self-declaration based land conversion as a matter of right of agricultural land owner subject to Master Plan.

“The Deputy Commissioner of the respective district will have the power to cancel the permission given for conversion of agricultural land if the applicants submit wrong infor mation. Whatever the fees paid by the applicants will be forfeited in such cases,” said t h e revenue minister.

Stating that there have been many hurdles in converting agricultural land into non-agricultural land and applicants had to wait six to eight months or even a year to get the nod from the authorities. “If the agricultural land falls in the green zone, the conversion of the land for nonagricultural use will not be done,” the minister said.

He said the amendment to the Section 95 of Karnataka Land Revenue Act would stop formation of unauthorized layouts. “As of now, there are 20 lakh revenue sites in the state,’’ he said, adding that land conversion fees will be linked with the guidance value of the respective area.

He has also said that land developers with General Powers of Attorney cannot apply for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use. “Farmers who won the land can apply for agricultural land conversion,’’ he said.