Gujarat Assembly Passes Tukda Dhara Amendment Bill; Provision to Regularise Past Land Violations

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Friday passed the Gujarat Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2026 (Tukda Dhara), bringing wide-ranging changes to the 1947 law governing the fragmentation of agricultural land.

Describing it as the first major overhaul of the law since Independence, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rushikesh Patel said the amendments would end decades-old complexities faced by farmers and landowners and provide relief to lakhs of people across the state.

One of the key provisions of the amendment is the regularisation of all violations of the Fragmentation Act committed from 1948 until March 31, 2026, without imposing any penalty or premium.

Under the existing system, even after paying a penalty equivalent to 10% of the Jantri value, certain land transactions continued to be treated as invalid. The government said the new provision would help clear the land titles of thousands of bona fide buyers and facilitate the settlement of long-pending cases in revenue courts.

Minimum standard area fixed at 10 gunthas

The amendment also seeks to remove confusion arising from different fragmentation standards applicable to irrigated, non-irrigated, horticultural and dry agricultural land in different parts of Gujarat.

Under the newly inserted Section 5(4), the state government has fixed a uniform standard area of 10 gunthas (1,012 square metres) for rural areas across Gujarat. Going forward, agricultural land parcels smaller than 10 gunthas cannot be created through fragmentation.

According to the government, the move is aimed at maintaining the viability and quality of agricultural holdings while simplifying land transactions.

Urban areas exempted from Fragmentation Act

Another significant change is the complete exclusion of municipal corporations, municipalities and urban development authority areas from the purview of the Fragmentation Act.

The government said the exemption would simplify and speed up processes related to non-agricultural (NA) permissions, construction and land transactions in urban areas, thereby supporting development.

Patel said the state government would also have the power to declare a standard area for any category of land in a particular local area through a notification in the Official Gazette. The government had already notified 10 gunthas as the standard area on August 12, 2026.

Ordinance already brought into force

The minister said the government had initially introduced the reforms through an ordinance with immediate effect, and the Assembly’s passage of the Bill now gives the measures statutory backing.

The government said the reforms are intended not merely as legal changes but as a major step towards improving ease of doing business and ease of living for farmers, middle-class families, landowners and investors. It also claimed that simplifying the process would increase transparency in land administration and help curb corruption.

Patel said the amendments were based on recommendations made after a detailed study by a high-level committee constituted by the state government.

The Bill, introduced by Patel on behalf of the Revenue Department, was passed unanimously by the Gujarat Assembly in the interest of farmers and the general public. DeshGujarat