Bill passed to relax conversion of agricultural land up to two acres for industrial use

The Hindu

2 days ago

The Legislative Assembly has passed the Karnataka Land Reforms and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill, 2025, for allowing the conversion of agricultural land up to two acres for the establishment of new industries, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
At present, any person holding agricultural land must apply to the Deputy Commissioner for permission to divert it for non-agricultural use, as per Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
DC permission not needed
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda informed the House that the Deputy Commissioner's permission was not required for entrepreneurs to convert farmland up to two acres for industrial use without any difficulties.
The Bill would not only ensure ease in governance but also provide a lot of relief to those who wanted to set up MSMEs on agricultural lands. An amendment would eliminate all middlemen in the conversion of agricultural lands into non-agricultural purposes up to two acres, he said.
For renewable energy
The Bill has proposed doing away with the need to convert agricultural land for non-agricultural use for the establishment of renewable energy projects.
He said the amendment would encourage renewable energy projects for increasing the generation of clean energy projects, such as solar or wind, in the State, subject to payment of the prescribed fees to the concerned authorities.
Penal clause
The Bill proposed to remove a three-year imprisonment clause for people who sell agricultural land for non-agricultural use without prior approval. At present, this offence carries a fine of ₹10,000 along with a three-year imprisonment.
However, it has increased the penalty to ₹1 lakh. However, the penalty would not be applicable to causes which were regularised by the government by formulating a special scheme.
Property registration
In order to reduce human intervention during the registration of properties and the use of digital signatures of competent authorities, the Assembly passed the Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The Bill would ensure due diligence is undertaken by the Sub-Registrar at the time of registration of property, in the interest of the public.
It would ensure integration of property software to prevent illegal registration of properties in urban areas also and to simplify property registration.
It would also enable e-Registration/Remote Registration of some compulsory registrable documents without the physical presence of either party in the Sub-Registrar's offices, and certified copies would be made available through a centralised virtual distribution system to avoid delay.
Authorities Bills
The Assembly passed a Bill related to the authorities of Banavasi, Basavakalyan, Kittur, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Heritage Area, and Kaginele development to make the Revenue Minister or any other Minister as chosen by the Chief Minister the chairman of the authorities. At present, the Chief Minister is the chairman of all authorities.