HP allows non-farmers to buy land

Himachal Pradesh has given permission to 1,370 non-agriculturists to buy land in the state under Section 118 of the HP tenancy and land reforms Act since 2008.

In the absence of the state’s revenue minister Gulab Singh, IPH minister Ravinder Ravi said on Thursday, “Out of the 1,370 cases, 1,004 are from outside Himachal, while the remaining 366 are local.”

He said no separate permission was granted in such cases for change of land use. But each permission was given for a specific purpose and this automatically resulted in land use in the classification of land records.

According to the law, people from outside the state and even non-agriculturists from within the state cannot buy land in rural areas of HP.

This is a highly contentious issue and permissions are granted from time to time by both the BJP and the Congress, even though both the parties accuse each other of violating this law.