Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce has hailed Karnataka Government’s decision to bring about sweeping changes in the Land Reforms Act to allow non-agriculturists too to buy farm land and invest in agriculture.

BCIC president Devesh Agarwal, in a press release, said: “We believe allowing non-agricultural people to buy agricultural land in Karnataka will pave way through the noisy infrastructure, for agricultural productivity as currently many poor farmers don’t have the fiscal strength to invest resulting in under utilized farm lands. Karnataka Government’s decision to remove the ceiling on income from non-agricultural sources and increase the number of units of land a person can hold will give the non- agricultural buyers the much needed boost to materialize on this at the earliest.”

The BCIC comments follow the State Government’s decision to do away with the restrictions on buying agricultural land by non-agriculturists, bidding bye to a decades-old law. Now any Indian, or a trust, society, company or an educational institution can buy farmland in Karnataka regardless of the buyer’s annual income from non-agricultural sources once the law is amended.

The government has decided to amend the Sections 79 (A) & (B) of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, through an Ordinance. According to the government, there are 83,171 cases involving more than 2 lakh acres pending before revenue courts under these sections of the land reforms Act.

Lifting of the restrictions will help farmers get competitive rates for their land, as well as take farming practices to the next level with better investments and modernisation, Revenue Minister R Ashoka had told ET last week. “Our people no more need to visit the neighbouring Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Kerala to buy land,” he said. The government, however, will put a cap on how much a family or an individual can buy.

Source : Financial Express