Administration of farmland transfer in urban fringes: Lessons from Maharashtra, India

Abstract

This article examines the growing concern for urban fringe land management in the light of the legal framework and the procedure for land transfer. Rapid increases in the population have led to the growth of cities. As the lands around the city increase in importance, and as the public authorities in most of the growing cities of the developing world have been unsuccessful in supplying land for housing for lower income groups, the smaller lots outside the legal framework are gaining importance in the city land markets. As a result, large-scale transfers of lands in the fringe areas are affected. In anticipation of future profits, land developers have engaged in malpractice, including the outwitting of legislative provisions, bribing of local officials and cheating landowners. Such land transactions undoubtedly exploit landowners and defeat the objectives of the legislation meant to safeguard the interests of the ordinary citizens. This article looks at the fraudulent nature of such land transactions, along with the modus operandi of land dealers in the light of the current legal framework. In order for it to be effective, it has to check unscrupulous speculation so that the middle and lower income groups cannot be excluded from the land market.