* Maximum 154 such cases are in Chandrapur district followed by 33 in Nagpur and 26 in Gondia
* Government begins process of ‘rectification’ and starts restoring
ownership of the land to original tribal owner or next to his/her kin
By Kartik Lokhande
Though
the legal provisions bar transfer of land owned by a tribal to
non-tribal, several such transfers have taken place in Maharashtra. As
far as six districts of Nagpur Division are concerned, such transfers
have taken place in 214 cases without obtaining proper permission from
the State Government. After a long gap, now, the Government has started
the process of ‘rectification’ in this regard.
Many tribals and
non-tribals as well as Government officials concerned did not know about
the provisions dating back to 1974. As a result, there are many cases
in which tribals have ‘sold’ their land to non-tribals, said sources in
the administration. Owing to ignorance, there are cases in which
registry of such ‘sale deeds’ has been done without obtaining prior
permission from the competent authority of the district concerned. There
are cases in which successors of original tribal owner, who had ‘sold’
his land to non-tribal years ago, have staked ownership claim on the
said land as the property has assumed significant value currently, said
an official not wishing to be named. Owing to this, and many other
angles, the titles and transactions concerning tribal land have
attracted law suits, and have complicated the functioning of the
Government in such cases.
 |
| Published in 'The Hitavada' CityLine on November 10, 2014 |
Recently, before enforcement of Model Code
of Conduct for Legislative Assembly elections, Tribal Advisory Council
consisting of Scheduled Tribe legislators had directed Revenue
Department to stop all transactions pertaining to tribal lands and not
to transfer any triibal land to non-tribal. TAC had pointed out that
there were reports about large-scale transfers of tribal land to
non-tribals and that land-sharks and moneybags were obtaining such lands
for peanuts, taking full-advantage of poverty and ignorance of tribals.
It was pointed out that there were 756 cases of tribal land transferred
to non-tribal in the State.
As per the official data compiled so
far, Nagpur Division has 214 cases in which tribal land has been
transferred to non-tribals without obtaining the Government sanction. Of
six districts in the Division, Chandrapur tops the chart as far as
maximum such cases are concerned. Of a total 214 such cases, as many as
154 are in Chandrapur district alone, followed by 33 in Nagpur and 26 in
Gondia districts. In Chandrapur district, as per the official record,
97 cases are pending for order. Apart from 214 cases of transfer of
tribal land to non-tribal without Government sanction, there are 261
cases in which such transfers were effected with Government sanction.
An
officer familiar with the matter told ‘The Hitavada’ that the
Government had started the process of ‘rectification’ and had restored
land titles to original tribal owners in many cases. “A list has been
prepared about transfers with and without Government sanction,” he said.
As far as Chandrapur district is concerned, he said that cases of
transfer of tribal land to non-tribals were more in Korpana and Jiwati
tehsils as they were a part of Andhra Pradesh previously, and the land
documents have a different record pattern.
Transfer of tribal land to
non-tribal in Nagpur Divn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
District Transfer with Transfer without
Govt sanction Govt sanction
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nagpur 226 33
Wardha 01 01
Gondia 01 26
Bhandara 00 00
Chandrapur 29 154
Gadchiroli 04 00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 261 214
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
What does Maharashtra Land Revenue Code say?
As
per the Sections 36 and 36 (A) of Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966,
restrictions have been imposed on transfer of tribal land to
non-tribals. Section 36 (A) states clearly that no occupancy (of land)
of a tribal be transferred in favour of any non-tribal through sale
(including sales in execution of a decree of a Civil Court or an award
or order of any tribunal or authority), gift, exchange, mortgage, lease
or otherwise.
Only the District Collector concerned is empowered to
accord sanction if non-tribal moves an application in case of lease or
mortgage for a period not exceeding five years, or with previous
approval of State Government. The Collector also is expected to accord
sanction only if he is satisfied that no tribal residing in the village
in which the occupancy is situated or within five kilometres thereof is
prepared to take occupancy from the owner on lease, mortgage, or by sale
or otherwise.
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