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This is an archive article published on July 8, 2023
Cultivating land for 70 years as tenants, pattedars may finally get their ownership
According to Pehowa-Guhla Land Pattedar Joint Action Committee chairman Harpal Singh Cheeka, the then Kairon government had allotted 10 acres to each of the families in 1952.
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Cheeka recalled that in 2013, the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government had introduced a law with a provision of 33-year lease — extendable to 99 years with two extensions. (Express photo)
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Cultivating land for 70 years as tenants, pattedars may finally get their ownership
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Thousands of families in two districts of Haryana are likely to be given ownership rights of the land that they have been cultivating as tenants for the past over 70 years with the state government indicating that a legislation for the same may be taken up for discussion in the upcoming monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha.
If enacted, the proposed legislation will benefit more than 10,000 families of pattedars living in 40 villages in Kaithal’s Guhla and Kurukshetra’s Pehowa. These are the families that had migrated to India from Pakistan following the Partition or from Punjab who were encouraged to shift to Guhla and Pehowa to clear the forest there and make the land cultivable for foodgrains by the then (undivided) Punjab government led by Partap Singh Kairon. They have been cultivating the land there since 1952.
A close associate of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told The Indian Express that the government is in favour of giving land ownership rights to them to ensure justice. “The land may be given to them at less than collector rates. A Bill may be tabled in the Vidhan Sabha in the coming monsoon session,” the official said.
“These families have been cultivating the land for the past 70 years after putting in a lot of effort to make it cultivable. They are likely to be given ownership rights the way municipal bodies grants rights for shops,” the official further added.
Explained
Who are pattedars
The farmers who take land on lease for a specific period are called pattedars. This land may be taken from the village panchayat, government department or individuals. According to BJP leader Harpal Singh Cheeka, the then Punjab government led Parkash Singh Badal government had given the property rights to a large number of pattedars long back.
According to Pehowa-Guhla Land Pattedar Joint Action Committee chairman Harpal Singh Cheeka, the then Kairon government had allotted 10 acres to each of the families in 1952.
Cheeka recalled that in 2013, the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government had introduced a law with a provision of 33-year lease — extendable to 99 years with two extensions. “However, this provision was challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stayed its implementation. Since then, the farmers have been fighting for the ownership rights of the land. We are hopeful that the Khattar government will finally accept our demand,” said Cheeka.
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