Mumbai: In a landmark decision, the Maharashtra Government has announced the regularisation of all land transactions carried out over the past 59 years, free of cost. The move will benefit thousands of plot holders whose property transfers were previously considered irregular, enabling them to have their ownership officially recorded in the 7/12 land extracts or property cards.
A 7/12 extract is a crucial land record document that proves property ownership. It contains details about agricultural land, including its survey number, area, ownership, and type of cultivation.
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On Tuesday, the State Revenue Department amended the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings (MPFCH) Act by promulgating an ordinance to implement the move.
The State Government officially regularised lakhs of land parcels previously restricted under the Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947, potentially benefiting nearly two crore citizens. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday announced that the long-awaited amendment came into effect across the state with the issuance of a govt gazette notification.
Calling it a historic and people-centric reform, Bawankule said, “Nearly 49 lakh landholders, representing around two crore family members, will now have their names officially recorded on 7/12 land extracts. This decision ends decades of confusion and hardship caused by outdated laws.”
The amendment exempts non-agricultural (NA) lands from the Fragmentation Act, allowing all transactions carried out between November 15, 1965, and October 15, 2024, to be deemed regularised without any fees. “The transfers made during this 59-year period will now be recognised as lawful, free of charge,” Bawankule confirmed, adding that the Revenue Department will issue a detailed operational framework for the same within seven days.
“In order to update the record of rights, the government considers it expedient to suitably amend the said Act to provide for deemed regularisation of such fragments without charging any premium therefore,” states the ordinance issued by the state revenue department.
The move has also enabled the regularisation of land transactions between November 15, 1965 and October 15, 2024, confirmed Bawankule.
The MPFCH Act prevents agricultural land from being divided into small, uneconomical plots. It prohibits the creation of “fragments” (land parcels below a standard size) and restricts their sale, generally requiring adjacent landowners to purchase them to prevent new fragments. The idea was to consolidate agricultural holdings for the purpose of improved cultivation.
However, with growing urbanisation over the last few decades, agricultural land near cities and developed municipal areas was re-zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use in various draft or final regional plans, thereby permitting its non-agricultural use.
This shift in zoning led to numerous land transfers and partitions that contravene the provisions of the (MPFCH) Act. Consequently, while these transactions have occurred in practice, the restrictions imposed by the Act have prevented them from being officially recorded in the land records.
“This revolutionary decision enables the regularisation of all land transactions previously conducted in violation of the Act, resolving decades of land-ownership ambiguity. Effective immediately, the MPFCH Act will no longer apply to lands permitted for non-agricultural use,” said Bawankule.
“Buyers with registered sale-purchase deeds, but whose names were not on the 7/12 extract, will now have their names entered under ownership rights. For unregistered documents, the buyers can now register their deeds with the sub-registrar and subsequently have their names recorded in the 7/12 extract,” the revenue minister explained.
The ordinance covers all areas where non-agricultural use is permissible under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act or the metropolitan region development authority Acts, including Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur, as well as special planning authorities and peripheral zones under the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR).
Bawankule emphasised that the move aligns with the government’s broader policy to simplify complex laws and reduce bureaucratic hurdles. “Following Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s directive, we are reforming rigid laws to make governance citizen-friendly. Our aim is to build a revenue system where no one has to visit govt offices even for a day,” he said.
