Patna: Bihar's NDA government is actively considering a proposal to enact a new legislation to check sale of khas mahal land, prime government land, allotted to lessees in perpetuity or for a fixed period as per the recommendations of the B Bandopadhyay Commission on Land Reforms.

A proposal to bring a new bill in the monsoon session of the state legislature is under active consideration. We want to prohibit sale of khas mahal land, state land reforms and revenue department sources told PTI.

An expert panel, headed by the department's principal secretary, would prepare the draft for the proposed legislation for approval of the state cabinet, sources said.

Growing urbanisation of Patna and other townships had sparked off a systematic transfer and re-transfer of khas mahal land by the original lessees without even the knowledge of the government.

This has set off a profiteering trend which is in violation of the khas mahal agreements with the state. In Patna it is a common practice to sell off vast tracts of khas mahal land at huge market prices, whereas the government gets a pittance in rent and salami from the new buyer or lessee, they said.

Giving legal safegyards to bataidars, toning up revenue administration, identification and taking over of ceiling surplus land possessed illegally by landed class and estates, besides addressing the discerpencies in contract farming were among other prescriptions suggested by the B Bandopadhyay Commission to the Bihar government.

The commission has already submitted its report to the state government.

Better management of khas mahal land, making the mutation process simple and mandatory, updating land records and filling up of vacancies in the land reform department were the other recommendations of the commission, official sources said.

The report has blamed lack of bataidari rights, absence of proper land revenue administration mechanisms and accumulation of land by estates in various districts on  the failure to effect  land reforms in Bihar, the sources reveal.

These  have also been cited as reasons for unrest and growth of Naxalite movement in the state, they said.

Soon after becoming the chief minister in November, 2005, Nitish Kumar had constituted the panel and sought its recommendations in a bid to give a momentum to the process of land reforms in Bihar which has remained a key issue following the abolition  of zamindari in 1950.

The 125-page report submitted to the CM's secretariat consists of nine chapters dealing with various issues relating to agrarian situation and its inherent contradictions in the state.

Source : PTI