Land Classification Incomplete in 405 Local Levels, Land Plotting Halted

Kathmandu. Land plotting will be halted in 405 local levels across the country that have not completed land classification. Plotting of land will be automatically stopped from Friday (July 1) in municipalities that have not completed land classification by the end of Asar as per the land use regulations. Director of the Survey Department, Dayananda Joshi, informed that out of 753 municipalities nationwide, only about 348 local levels have completed land classification and sent the details. He stated that some municipalities are still in the process of sending details, and land plotting will be stopped in the remaining municipalities.

Classification Not Finalized Even After Three Extensions

The Land Use Act, 2076, and Regulations, 2079, mandate all local levels in the country to classify land within their jurisdiction into 10 categories such as agricultural, residential, industrial, forest, mines and minerals, and commercial. However, as many municipalities failed to complete the work within the stipulated time, the government has extended the deadline three times by amending the regulations for land classification. Although the Ministry of Law had suggested not to extend the deadline for the second time, the Ministry of Land extended the time until the end of Asar by amending it for the third time. The regulations stipulate that new plot divisions will not be made in local levels that do not complete classification within this period.

Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, clarified that since the regulations set the deadline until the end of Asar, plotting will be stopped in areas where classification is not done by this deadline. “Since it is stipulated in the regulations, plotting will be stopped until this amendment is made. However, this will not affect inheritance division. Things like commercial plotting by dividing land will be stopped,” said spokesperson Bhatta.

Local levels that have not yet fully classified land are in various stages of classification. Some have prepared plot details, while others have prepared bases and criteria and updated maps. Similarly, some local levels have only made criteria, some have only separated agricultural land, and the rest have not even started the classification work. The ministry has stated that plotting will be stopped in all these local levels, regardless of their progress.

Where Will the Impact Be Felt?

Currently, the department does not have exact data on which local levels across the country have completed land classification. Director Joshi of the Survey Department says that they are collecting data from the respective local levels and will receive the list within a few days. However, most local levels in densely urbanized areas have completed land classification. Similarly, among the metropolitan cities nationwide, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bharatpur have completed land classification in all their areas, and Pokhara Metropolitan City has completed it in 11 wards. Besides these, all local levels within the Kathmandu Valley have reportedly completed this classification. Among the sub-metropolitan cities, Itahari, Dharan, Janakpur, Kalaiya, Hetauda, Butwal, Ghorahi, Tulsipur, and Biratnagar have completed classification. However, Jitepur Simra and Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan cities have not yet completed classification.

In addition, classification is still pending in most local levels in the Terai region where a large volume of land transactions occur. This includes most local levels in the Terai districts where the main land transactions take place. Stakeholders have been demanding a review of this situation, citing serious impacts on land sales and revenue due to the halt in plotting.

New Criteria for Plotting

With this provision in the regulations, the limit for land plotting has also been adjusted. Previously, land plots less than 130 square meters (4.08 annas) were not allowed to be divided, but this has been reduced to 80 square meters (2.51 annas). Similarly, stricter measures have been adopted for agricultural land. For agricultural land, the provision was that plots less than 500 square meters in the valley and 675 square meters in the Terai and inner Terai could not be divided, but this has been changed to not allowing plots less than 1 Ropani.