Himachal amends archaic law, allows daughters to hold land

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, April 4

Aimed at removing gender disparity, the passing of the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2023, by the Assembly will pave the way for the eldest adult daughter in a family to retain land as a “separate unit”.

Step towards gender parity

• Under HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, a family comprising husband, wife and minor children can retain a maximum of 150 bighas
• The law till now entitled the eldest adult son, recognised as a ‘separate unit’, to hold additional 150 bighas, taking total permissible limit a family can retain to 300 bighas

What the amended law will allow

• Now, the families who do not have a son can also hold 300 bighas, as the adult eldest daughter will also be treated as a separate unit
• It will entitle the adult eldest daughter, either married or unmarried, to hold 150 bighas

The Bill, which seeks to amend Section 3, 4 and 5 of the HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, will become part of the legislation once it gets the assent of the President. Under this Act, the land possessed by any family over and above the permissible limit (of 300 bighas) was vested in the government.

The worst affected due to this gender bias in the Act were families who did not have a son as the eldest adult daughter was not entitled to hold any land, thus leaving the family with only 150 bighas after 1972. Once the Amendment becomes part of the Act, those having one or more daughters can avail additional 150 bighas in the name of the eldest adult daughter, bringing them on a par with the families having an adult son.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said: “The initiative towards promoting gender equality by carrying out the Amendment to the 51-year-old legislation is a landmark decision for providing equitable rights in landholding to the adult daughter (married or unmarried).”

The Amendment, to be effective prospectively, will remove gender inequality which till now had deprived the eldest adult daughter from retaining 150 bighas, besides the 150 bighas held by her parents. The total permissible limit of land that a family can hold under the HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, is 300 bighas.

Religious outfits, tea estates, coop farming societies and land owned by state and Central government are exempted from this Act.