Question 1

Can a non-farmer buy agricultural land in Maharashtra?

Accepted Answer

Only with the Collector’s permission, given before the deed. Section 63 of the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1948 bars a sale, gift, exchange or lease of agricultural land to a non-agriculturist without it, and wanting to farm does not change that. Land earmarked for non-agricultural use in a Development or Regional Plan is carved out.

Question 2

What does Section 63 say?

Accepted Answer

A sale, gift, exchange, lease or possessory mortgage of agricultural land to a non-agriculturist is barred unless the Collector permits it. The bar also covers an agriculturist whose holding would go over two-thirds of the ceiling area.

Question 3

How do you prove you are an agriculturist?

Accepted Answer

In practice, with a land record: your own 7/12 showing agricultural land you already hold. Whether land held in another state counts is not settled. One 1980 Bombay High Court ruling leans towards yes, on facts that included farming in Maharashtra, and no later ruling settles it. Your advocate decides.

Question 4

Is Section 63(1C) a route for farming?

Accepted Answer

No. Added by Mah. Act 1 of 2016, it lifts the bar for land earmarked for non-agricultural use in a draft or final Development or Regional Plan. The buyer has five years to put the land to that use, extendable by five on a yearly non-utilisation charge, and a resale within the ten years of land not yet in that use carries a transfer charge. It is a plan-earmark route, not a farming one.

Question 5

What does Class 2 occupancy mean for a buyer?

Accepted Answer

Land held as Occupant Class II comes with restrictions on transfer, and where the Collector’s previous sanction is required, a transfer without it is void. Converting the land to non-agricultural use does not change its class. Read the class on the 7/12 and again in the last ferfar.

Question 6

What is the fragmentation standard area?

Accepted Answer

The smallest piece that may be cut out of a survey number outside a non-agricultural zone. On the southern Konkan coast it is 20 R of dry land and 10 R of irrigated land (about 20 and 10 guntha), under the August 2023 notification. A transfer that creates a smaller piece is void. A 2 to 5 guntha “farm plot” is a red flag.