The Land Act 2021 was enacted in order to shift the inactive capital and the burden of population from the land to other economic sectors in order to quicken the pace of the nation’s economic development, to improve the living conditions of the actual peasants who are dependent on the land by distributing cultivable land equitably, by make the necessary knowledge and resources for agriculture easily accessitoble, and to maintain the convenient and economic interests of the general public by providing encouragement to make the maximum increase in agricultural production. There were 11 amendments to this act. The date of authentication and publication was 2021.8.1 (15 November 1964). It was passed by His Majesty King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev with the approval of the Rastriya Panchayat and on their recommendation.
Chapters
Abolition of Jimidari:
Section 3 provides abolition of Jimidari which means the following ; Jimidari” means a system of collecting the revenue under the law and depositing, or causing to be deposited, such revenue with Government of Nepal, by making agent in the name of Jimidar, Patawari, Talukdar, Jimmawal, Mukhiya, Thari, Dware or in any other name, and includes the Kipat system. Jimidari is hereby abolished. As a result of such abolition, all the rights and authorities of the agents related with the Jimidari in the concerned area (Mouja) are ipso facto abolished.
Documents relating to Jimidari:
Section 4 provides for the documents of the Jimidari, where a person who has the custody of the documents relating to Jimidari shall submit those documents to the prescribed office or official as and when so ordered by that office or official.
Punishment
1. Section 6 provides for the punishment which shall be: If a person fails to perform the duty to be performed under Section 4, the prescribed office or official may punish such person with a fine not exceeding Rs. 500/- (five hundred rupees), imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or both, and take custody of such documents.
And,
2. If a person having duty to collect and recover land revenue pursuant to Section 5 fails to c ollect and recover the same or fails to perform any other duty pertaining thereto, the prescribed office or official may recover the loss and damage caused by such failure to the Government of Nepal from the personal properties with a fine not exceeding Rs. 1,000/- (one thousand rupees) or with imprisonment for a term nopunishment,t exceeding six months or with both.
Ceiling of Land
Section 7 provides for the ceiling of the land where it states that if any person or his/her family may, as a landowner, own land within the following ceiling in the following area, not exceeding a total of 10 Bigaha:
(a) All Terai regions including inner Terai -10 Bigaha
(b) Kathmandu Valley -25 Ropani
(c) All hilly regions except Kathmandu Valley -70 Ropani
And,
Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (1), any person or his/her family may, in addition to the land as referred to in Subsection (1), own such land as is required for house and premises not exceeding the following ceiling:
(d) All Terai regions including inner Terai -1 Bigaha
(e) Kathmandu Valley -5 Ropani
(f) All hilly regions except Kathmandu Valley -5 Ropani
Restriction on acquisition of the land
Section 10 provide restriction on acquisition of the land where it mentions that except in cases of acquisition by way of partition or succession, no person shall, as a landowner, obtain any land in any manner in his or another person’s name, in excess of the upper ceiling specified in Section 7.
Punishment
Section 11 provides for the punishment where in the event of such undertaking, such person shall, by order of the prescribed authority,be punished with a fine not exceeding Rs. 5,00/- (Five Hundred Rupees). And be punished with a fine not exceeding Rs. 1,000/- (One Thousand Rupees) if any person acquires land in contravention of Section 10.
Section 12 provides for the exemption from the upper ceiling which are the land owned and possessed by Government of Nepal, District Development Committee, Village Development Committee or Municipality, educational or health institutions as prescribed by Government of Nepal, industrial activity, agro-industrial activity, land acquired by a foreign institution with diplomatic immunities or by a foreign country.
Section 13 provides for the prescribed authority may, by issuing a notice as prescribed, order all the landowners to submit, or cause to be submitted, an inventory as prescribed within Thirty five days after the date of issuance of the notice.
Section 14 provides that the prescribed authority shall, prior to the rectification of any matter contained in an inventory submitted by a person pursuant to Section 13, provide the concerned person with the time limit of at least Fifteen days and with an opportunity to submit his explanation, along with proofs and evidence; and the prescribed authority may rectify the inventory only after examining the proofs and evidence submitted by the concerned person and if the inventory is so rectified, a notice thereof shall be given to the concerned person.
Acquisition of the land in excess of the upper ceiling
Section 15 provides for the acquisition of the land in excess of the upper ceiling where the existing landowner shall be allowed to posses and use the land so acquired, subject to the payment of land revenue to Government of Nepal, pending its transfer to the person who gets it on its sale and disposal.
Section 16 provides that the land acquired by a person or his family as a landowner by way of partition or succession or by virtue of the change of river course and the aggregate of that land and the land, if any, he/she owns prior thereto exceeds the upper ceiling prescribed in Section 7, such person shall submit to the prescribed authority an inventory as prescribed, within Thirty five days of the acquisition of such land.
Mortgage amount of creditor to be unsecured loan:
Section 17 provides that the mortgage amount of creditor to be unsecured loan which is if a creditor possessing any mortgaged land becomes unable to possess the land under Section 7 and then the debtor is to get it returned back, the mortgage amount of such creditor shall be unsecured after the date on which the debtor is so entitled to return bank.
Section 18 provides for the punishment where if a person fails to submit an inventory required to be submitted pursuant to Section 13 or Section 16 or submits an incomplete inventory or does deliberately submit a false inventory, the land in question shall be confiscated by order of the prescribed authority and if a person hinders or obstructs may, by order of the prescribed authority on acquiring land, be punished with a fine not exceeding Rs. 1,000/- (One Thousand Rupees) or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding Six months or with both.
Compensation to be provided
Section 19 provides for the compensation where after the transfer of the landowner’s right to another person, Ten percent of the amount of compensation shall be given within One year and the debentures issued by Government of Nepal shall be given for the rest amount. The interest at the rate so prescribed by Government of Nepal that it is neither less than Three percent nor more than Five percent per annum, shall be given on such debentures. A share in the capital to be invested in a development plan may be purchased by these loans in accordance with the terms prescribed by Government of Nepal within a period of Ten years after the date of issuance of the debentures.
Section 20 provides that where the land acquired from any landowner pursuant to Section 15 has been taken by any other person on usufruct mortgage or pledge, the creditor having taken the land on usufruct mortgage or pledge shall be entitled to the compensation to be obtained under Section 19.
Sale and disposal of Land:
1. Section 21 provides that the prescribed authority shall sell or dispose of, the land acquired or confiscated pursuant to a local person of that Village Development Committee or Municipality from which that land has been acquired or confiscated. In making such sale or disposal, priority shall be given to the freed bonded labor, downtrodden (dalit), indigenous and nationalities (janajati), out of the local landless people. It provides that the prescribed authority shall register in the registration book, as prescribed; the lands sold or disposed and then forward a copy thereof to the Land Revenue Office or the Land Administration Office.
2. Section22 provides that A person who obtains a land on the sale and disposal thereof under Section 21 shall pay the value of that land in such sum as to be set at the prescribed rate of that land in cash in lump sum as prescribed or in installments in such times as prescribed from time to time. An interest on the sum of value at the rate of five percent per annum38 for the period of payment shall also be charged on and collected from a person who makes payment in installments.
3. Section 24A provides that if it is found after the inquiries held pursuant to Sub-section (1) that any person obtained the land by making a false statement or by way of sale and disposal in contravention of the Rules framed under this Act, Government of Nepal may confiscate such land and re-sell and redispose of the same, as prescribed.
Provisions relating to Tenant
4. Section 25 provides that a person who as a tenant has been cultivating a land that belongs to any landowner until the date of the commencement of this Section shall acquire the tenancy right as referred to in this Chapter in respect of the land.
5. Section 26(b) provides that If any landowner lets any peasant till his/her land, such landowner shall give a notice thereof to the prescribed authority within one month; and the prescribed authority shall subpoena and inquire the concerned landowner and the tenant about the matter, if necessary, and register the matter in the Registration Book.
6. Section 26, 1(c) provides that If a tenant quits the land or disappears without trace or his/her tenancy right terminates by virtue of his/her default in making payment of rent, the landowner shall give a notice thereof in writing to the prescribed authority within Twenty five days; and the prescribed authority shall, upon investigating the matter, make correction in the Registration Book.
7. Section 26 subsection 6 provides that a tenant shall be entitled to deduct and keep the seeds required for the next year prior to the division of crops and produce between the landowner and the tenant. The landowner shall not be entitled to collect interest from the tenant for the seeds so deducted.
8. Section 26 A provides that the tenancy right shall not be liable to be purchased or be subject to acquisition by way of gift, donation or other means whatsoever, and shall not be auctioned for governmental or non-governmental amount or punishment.
9. Section 26H provides for the value fixation committee where a value fixation committee consisting of the following members shall be formed in every district to fix the value of land: (a) Land Reform Officer or Land Revenue Officer in a district where Land Reform Officer is not available -Coordinator (b) Chairperson of the Village Development Committee or Mayor of the Municipality where the land is situated or Vice-chairperson of the same Village Development Committee or Deputy Major of the same Municipality as designated by them -Member (c) Ward Member of the concerned Ward of the Village Development Committee or Municipality where the land is situated -Member (d) Officer level employee representative of the District Administration Office -Member (e) Land Revenue Office in a district where Land Revenue Office is situated.
10. Section 26I provides that Government of Nepal may on its own or through any financial institution make provision of necessary amount of money to the landowner and the tenant in order to encourage them to purchase such land as held in each other’s part following the allocation of the land between the landowner and the tenant.
11. Section 29 provides for the terminancy of tenancy rights where it mentions that the if the landowner makes a petition that the tenant has failed to pay the rent, the prescribed authority may issue an order to expel such tenant where, the tenant has knowingly done any act which decreases the value crop of the land has decreased due to the tenant’s failure to take reasonable care.
12. Section 33 provides for the provision of rent where it mentions that No landowner shall charge rent or collect division thereof from the tenant in excess of fifty percent of the main annual crop yield of the land.
13. Section 40 provides that every landowner or every tenant shall deposit, or cause to be deposited, with the prescribed committee or association or authority the compulsory saving in kind at the prescribed rate of one main annual crop yield of the land that he/she owns or tills.
14. Section 41 provides for the payment of interest on the savings as The committee, association or authority keeping the deposited saving shall give interest on the amount of saving so made pursuant to Section 40 at the rate of Five percent per annum, and make a payment of such interest in lump sum or in installments after Two years and within Five years of the date of the deposit of such saving.
15. Section 45 provides if the creditor has already collected two-fold interest of the principal amount, the loan shall be deemed to have been repaid up.
16. Section 49 provides No landowner shall be entitled to get return from the tenant of the oxen or other tools of agriculture provided to the tenant for cultivation. The value of such oxen or tools shall be got determined by the Village Development Committee or Municipality; and the provisions contained in this Chapter shall also apply to the value so determined as if it were an agricultural loan.
17. Section 51E provides that In order to bring a land into use according to its nature, Government of Nepal may, by a notification in the Nepal Gazette, operate a landuse program in any or all of the areas in Nepal.
Formation of land-use council:
18. Section 51F provides that there shall be formed a land-use council consisting of the chairperson and members as follows in order to determine the policy on land-use for the purposes of Formation of land use council-
(a) Vice-Chairperson, National Planning Commission -Chairperson
(b) Secretary, Ministry of Defense –Member
(c) Secretary, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation -Member
(d) Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives -Member
(e) Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works -Member
(f) Three persons nominated by Government of Nepal from amongst the land-use related experts –Member
(g) Secretary, Ministry of Land Reforms and Management -Member secretary
19. Section 51I provides Government of Nepal may provide a group of ten or more landowners who intends to do cooperative farming to produce agro-products as prescribed by having plotting (Chaklabandi) with such appropriate facilities and concessions for agricultural inputs, agricultural technology, fertilizer, seed, irrigation, electricity, etc. as required for doing such farming.
20. Section 53 provides the Village Development Committee or Municipality, committee, court or authority empowered under this Act shall, in trying and settling any cases under this Act, use such authority and follow such modus operandi as referred to Special Court Act, 2059(2002).
21. Section 59 provides that Government of Nepal may, by a notified order and providing necessary facilities, give direction to harvest in the land of any area any particular crops or one or more cropsstates of any particular species and farm the same by following the method and provision fixed in that notified order; and it shall be the duty of the concerned landowner and tenant to cultivate in accordance with such direction.
Epilogue
This Act abolishes the Jimidari system for the collection of land taxes. It has provisioned the necessary land capacity for acquiring and possessing the land. It also states the maximum area of land that any person may hold or cultivate in the capacity of landowner or tenant, respectively. The land acquired in excess of the area permitted shall be confiscated by the government according to the procedure set out by the present Act. With respect to tenancy, the Act stated the maximum area of land that any person may cultivate in the capacity of a tenant. This act regulates the rights and obligations of the tenant. Furthermore, the Act makes provisions for the eviction of the tenant, to be ordered by the district court upon application submitted by the landowner. Similarly, this Act has concerned the financial measures relevant to compulsory savings to be made from the main annual crop and other matters connected therewith (e.g., interest on savings, refund of savings, deposit of savings against security, loans, etc.). The creation of committees and the appointment of authorities for the purpose of implementing the objectives of the present Act are also provisioned.
