Karnataka govt bans conversion for agriculture plots below 5 guntas

Bengaluru: The govt has prohibited land-use conversion for agricultural plots measuring five guntas or less, citing misuse of family partition provisions. In a circular last month, the land survey department asked deputy commissioners to identify such plots when they receive applications for land use conversion and return files to deputy directors of land documents for further action. The move comes after officials noticed a pattern of landowners dividing farmland into small parcels — usually below 5 guntas — for easy registration and later sold them as revenue sites for profit. In many cases, landowners applied for permission to use such land parcels for non-agriculture use. To prevent such practices and unauthorised layouts, the department has directed officials not to permit conversion and warned of disciplinary action against those who fail to comply, aiming to safeguard agricultural land and ensure proper land record management. The circular says landowners can avail an 11E sketch, a mandatory pre-mutation document that shows the precise boundary of a portion of agricultural land being sold, gifted, or divided. The Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, allows a person to obtain an 11E sketch for a plot below 5 guntas only once in case of partition among family members. But officials found that in many cases, landowners availed 11E sketches multiple times. The circular states the land documents division should file a suo moto case and cancel such 11E sketches.