• Can Pvt Ltd company buy farming land for farming purpose

I m from mumbai and i wish to purchase agriculture land for farming purpose . i want to do that in a pvt. ltd. company . can a pvt ltd company purchase agriculture land and do pure farming on it like growing horticulture crops. 
i want company name to reflect on 7/12
Asked 7 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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8 Answers

1) company cannot purchase agricultural land in Maharashtra for carrying out agricultural activities

2)The purpose of the Bombay Tenancy Act, 1948 is to ensure holding of agricultural land by tenants, labourers and agricultural land holders. Agriculturist as defined in sec.2 (2) of the Act means a person who cultivates land personally; and under section 2 (6) to cultivate personally means to cultivate land on one's own account by one's own labour, or by the labour of any member of one's family, or under the personal supervision of oneself or any member of one's family by hired labour or by servants on wages payable in cash or kind but not in crop share. According to section 2 (5), to cultivate with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means to till or husband the land for the purpose of raising or improving agricultural produce, whether by manual labour or by means of cattle or machinery, or to carry on any agricultural operation thereon.

Since the word person is defined in section 2 (11) of the Act, its definition as given in the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904 could not be applied and a company constituted as a juristic person under the Companies Act cannot be considered to be an agriculturist . Having regard to this legal provision, there is no provision under section 63 of the Act for acquisition of agricultural land by companies as non-agriculturist .

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96760 Answers
7804 Consultations

A company setup solely for the purpose of farming can purchase agricultural property in Maharashtra.

So you will have to make MOA & AOA of the compnay in that regard.

Once that is done the land can be purchased in the name of the company.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23192 Answers
510 Consultations

in Shri Kesheoraj Deo Sansthan, Karanja v. Bapurao Deoba, 1964 Mah LJ 589 in which an identically similar (sic) point came up for consideration, the dominating idea of anything done personally or in person is that the thing must be done by the person himself and not by or through someone else. In our opinion the following passage in that judgment at p. 593 explains the whole position correctly:

"It should thus appear that the legislative intent clearly is that in order to claim cultivation as a personal cultivation there must be established a direct nexus between the person who makes such a claim, and the agricultural processes or activities carried on the land. In other words, all the agricultural operations, though allowed to be done through hired labour or workers must be under the direct supervision, control, or management of the landlord. It is in that sense that the words "personal supervision" must be understood. In other words, the requirement of personal supervision under the third category of personal cultivation provided for in the definition does not admit of an intermediary between the landlord and the labourer, who can act as agent of the landlord for supervising the operations of the agricultural worker. If that is not possible in the case of one landlord, we do not see how it is possible in the case of another landlord merely because the landlord in the latter case is a juristic person".

In other words the intention is that the cultivation of the land concerned must be by natural persons and not by legal persons.

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96760 Answers
7804 Consultations

Due to restrictions contained in the Section 63 of the Bombay Tenancy & Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, a pvt. ltd. company cannot buy agricultural land for agricultural purpose in Maharasthra.

Vibhanshu Srivastava
Advocate, Lucknow
9659 Answers
307 Consultations

if you are an agriculturist then only can you buy agricultural land in Maharashtra

2) if you are non agriculturist you cannot purchase any agricultural land

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96760 Answers
7804 Consultations

Consider taking the land on lease.

Vibhanshu Srivastava
Advocate, Lucknow
9659 Answers
307 Consultations

If you are a non agriculturist then you can not buy an agricultural land in Maharshtara, intention of agriculture must be by a natural person and not by a company, and due to the restrictions imposed by Bombay Tenancy & Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 a pvt. ltd. co. can not purchase a land for agricultural purpose.

Regards

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18088 Answers
377 Consultations

1. Unless you are an agriculturist you cannot buy agricultural land in Maharashtra,

2. A juristic person does not fall within the realm of 'person'. ONly a natural person can buy it.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

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