• Purchase of Agricultural land

We intend to purchase agricultural land around 25 hectare ( 60 acre) in a pvt ltd company name initially for cultivation of horticulture crops and later on may add food processing unit in part of the same land in Madhya Pradesh.What are the legal formalities/hurdle and is there any ceiling applicable for Pvt Ltd Co.
Asked 7 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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6 Answers

1)  You can purchase Agricultural land in the MP , if your family members are more than five, you may purchase 2 crops yielding maximum 36 Acres and 1 crop yielding 54 Acres and dry land 108 Acres.

 

2) You can form Co-operative housing society and can have more members from your family than can form pvt Lt company. for food processing, where you can purchase foods from co-operative firm. 


1. A Pvt. Ltd. company CAN CERTAINLY BUY AGRICULTURAL LAND and develop and perform agricultural activities on it, BUT SUBJECT TO the approved provisions of articles and the Memorandum of the pvt.ltd and MUST be approved by the Registrar of Companies (ROC). There is no requirement of any director being an agriculturist. The Articles of the Pvt. Ltd. co. should clearly outline the agricultural activities the Pvt. Ltd. proposes to indulge in.


1. A Pvt. Ltd. company CAN CERTAINLY BUY AGRICULTURAL LAND and develop and perform agricultural activities on it, BUT SUBJECT TO the approved provisions of articles and the Memorandum of the pvt.ltd and MUST be approved by the Registrar of Companies (ROC). There is no requirement of any director being an agriculturist. The Articles of the Pvt. Ltd. co. should clearly outline the agricultural activities the Pvt. Ltd. proposes to indulge in.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
13008 Answers
267 Consultations

An individual can purchase maximum 54 acres of agricultural land in MP 

 

2) for land to be purchased in name of company 

 

3) The Madhya Pradesh government issued an ordinance to amend a law related to the ceiling on agricultural holdings, which will allow industrialists and private developers to easily purchase as much agricultural land as they want for non-agricultural activities.

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99775 Answers
8145 Consultations

The maximum extent of land that can be purchased is 59.95 acres (24 hectares). 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19325 Answers
32 Consultations

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.

But, in your state, the law stands at different place, 

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

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.

Sanjay Baniwal
Advocate, South Delhi
5477 Answers
13 Consultations

You can buy the same as per the new amendment. The below article will help you.

The Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 was notified a month after the special Assembly session concluded, and just two months before the monsoon session is scheduled to begin.

The existing legislation — the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1960 — required diversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purpose before it could be purchased by private parties. The ordinance entails the buyer “to intimate in writing the competent authority within 90 days from the date of acquisition that he shall get his land diverted to non-agricultural purpose”.

The buyer will have to get the land diverted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1959, within one year from the date of acquisition, and commence the proposed non-agricultural use of the land within three years from the date of diversion.

The ordinance, signed by Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, reads: “The state legislature is not in session and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action.”

The ordinance does not specify the existing ceiling on agricultural land which can be purchased. The amendment will come into force with retrospective effect.

When contacted, the state’s parliamentary affairs minister and government spokesman Narottam Mishra said he was not aware of the ordinance.

Commissioner of public relations, S K Mishra, who is also the CM’s principal secretary, said, “In these competitive times, when poaching of investment by states is common, we did not want to lose out. Earlier, industrialists could buy limited land and that too only after the farmer himself got it diverted. In the process, land cost would go up making the project unviable.”

Asked about the retrospective clause, Mishra said, “Several industries have already purchased land and we wanted to legalise the purchase.” He said the government brought an ordinance since the next Assembly session is still a few months away.

Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare called the ordinance “illegal”.

“By getting the ordinance issued, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has engaged in one-upmanship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has found it difficult to get the Land Acquisition Bill passed,” he said.

He further asked why the ordinance was required when the monsoon session is scheduled to begin in July.

When he was told that the ordinance was signed by the Governor, a Congress leader, Katare said , “We can’t call him neutral.

A senior bureaucrat who did not wish to be named said the amendment was required because industrialists found it difficult to ensure diversion before acquisition since they were regularly harassed by revenue officials. However, he added that only the political leadership could explain the urgency behind issuing an ordinance.

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
34514 Answers
249 Consultations

The Madhya Pradesh government issued an ordinance to amend a law related to the ceiling on agricultural holdings, which will allow industrialists and private developers to easily purchase as much agricultural land as they want for non-agricultural activities.

The existing legislation — the Madhya Pradesh Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1960 — required diversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purpose before it could be purchased by private parties. The ordinance entails the buyer “to intimate in writing the competent authority within 90 days from the date of acquisition that he shall get his land diverted to non-agricultural purpose”

 

You can take the assistance of a local lawyer and approach the land revenue department for formalities if any to be complied with for this purpose.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
89977 Answers
2492 Consultations

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