The Maharashtra Cabinet took a decision to this effect at its meeting here today.
With this move, a common man will now be able to purchase a piece of land and construct a house on the outskirts of a municipal corporation or city boundary limits.
Gunthewari is the traditional method used for measuring land in the state and several farmers had sold their plots on this basis. However, as per the Gunthewari Act, the practice of creating small plots of agricultural land in multiple 'gunthas' was illegal and hence carrying out constructions on the 'gunthewari' land was not legally approved. As per the Act, the owner of such a house was also not allowed to sell his property.
The demand to dilute the provisions of the Act was made by BJP legislator Laxman Jagtap from Pimpri-Chinchwad, who had time and again raised the issue in the State Legislature asking for legalising construction on 'gunthewari' land.
"In several cities in Maharashtra, people have constructed houses either on a farmland or on an owned land that was split in a small area (gunthas) measuring less than 10 hectares. But the Gunthewari Act does not allow any person to divide the land in small pieces and use it for development. Such constructions were notified as illegal," Khadse said.
The houses were registered by the stamp registrar of
the state government and even stamp duty was collected from the house and land owners. Nevertheless, 'illegal construction' was being mentioned in 7/12 extract, the property card.
"We had been collecting revenue from illegal constructions and hence we decided to regularise them. At present, 50 lakh such proposals have come to the notice of the Revenue Department. Each case will be studied separately by the Urban Development Department and it will later be regularised officially," Khadse said.