Uttarakhand relaxes tough land laws

The Cabinet of the Uttarakhand governemnt on Tuesday decided to relax norms in its much-contentious land laws, a step likely to boost the infrastructure and realty sectors in the state.

The bar on the purchase of more than 250 sq meter of land, however, would not be revoked, official sources said.

Under the new decisions taken by the Cabinet, the government has given permission for land use change of agriculture land after paying the necessary fees, provided such land are being purchased for housing, economic activity, agriculture, education and tourism purposes, the sources added.

In order to simplify procedure for purchasing agriculture and horticulture land, the permission can be sought at the government level. In this regard, a committee has been set up under the infrastructure development commission to suggest changes in three months time.

"We are glad this decision has opened the doors for realty companies to enter Uttarakhand as there were lot of restrictions earlier," said a property consultant.

In 2003, the then Congress government framed a law where the government's permission was necessary for purchase of more than 500 Sq meter of land. However, former Chief Minister B C Khanduri in 2007 further toughened this law with a ceiling of 250 sq meter only.