Gandhinagar : Overhauling a seven-decade-old land law, Gujarat assembly on Friday unanimously passed a bill providing for regularisation of all violations of the state’s land fragmentation law since 1948 without any penalty or premium.
Gujarat Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2026, also sets a uniform minimum standard area of 10 gunthas (1,012 sq m) across rural areas. Under the amendment, violations from 1948 to March 31, 2026, will be regularised without recovery of any penalty or premium. The bill removes municipal and urban development authority areas from the law’s purview.
Govt had promulgated an ordinance to this effect earlier this year, and the bill now gives it statutory backing. Presenting the bill on Friday, the last day of the assembly’s three-day session, minister Rushikesh Patel said the amendments would provide relief to lakhs of farmers and landowners by clearing long-pending title issues and ending years of litigation over fragmented land holdings.
Patel said the earlier system often left bona fide purchasers in legal limbo even after paying a penalty equivalent to 10% of the jantri value, with transactions still treated as invalid.
Govt said this move is expected to ease land transactions and construction-related processes. Municipal corporation areas, municipality areas, and areas under urban development authorities will no longer fall within the purview of the act.