Pune: Maharashtra Eases Land Fragmentation Rules; 60 Lakh Families to Get Legal Ownership Relief

Pune, 19th November 2025: In a major relief to landowners, the Maharashtra Revenue Department has finalised a new procedure to regularise past land transactions that violated the state’s land fragmentation (tukdebandi) laws. Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced the framework, which is expected to benefit nearly 60 lakh families—roughly three crore citizens—across the state.

As part of the initiative, the long-standing remark “transaction against the Fragmentation Act” will now be removed from the 7/12 extract, clearing the way for thousands of small land parcels to finally be recognised as legal and regular holdings. The new procedure applies to land deals conducted between 15 November 1965 and October 2024. Detailed instructions have been issued to all District Collectors and Settlement Commissioners.

The move covers land located in the jurisdictions of major planning authorities, including MMRDA, PMRDA and NMRDA, as well as plots in residential and commercial zones, cantonment areas, non-agricultural zones in regional plans, and peri-urban areas adjoining village boundaries.

Names to finally appear on 7/12 extract
Under the previous restrictions, lands purchased through informal subdivision or “gunthewari-style” transactions were not recorded on the 7/12 extract or were registered under “other rights”. With the new policy, any previously cancelled mutation entries related to such purchases will be re-examined and approved, allowing buyers’ names to be recorded as rightful occupants.

If a land record currently carries a remark indicating violation of the Fragmentation Act, it will be removed. For citizens who completed land purchases only via notarised documents or stamp paper agreements without registered deeds, talathis and circle officers will now actively assist and encourage formal registration. Once stamp duty is paid and the document is officially registered, the owner’s name will be added to the 7/12 extract.

Once the lands are regularised and the buyer’s name is entered into the official records, all legal hurdles to sale or transfer of such plots will be removed. The state government believes this decision will provide significant relief to middle-class landowners in urban and semi-urban regions, restoring legal ownership rights and enabling open market transactions.