Land and land revenue under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, including conversion of agricultural land

Land Law · Unit III · Topic 10 of 18 · 7 min read

Government ownership of land not owned by others under section 67, liability of all land to land revenue, the paramount charge, occupancy rights, grant and unauthorised occupation of Government land, and the law on converting agricultural land to non-agricultural use under sections 95 and 96 as amended up to 2025.

← All Land Law topics Past papers

On this page

1. Meaning of land and land revenue
2. Land: sections 67 to 79
3. Land revenue: sections 80 to 90
4. Occupancy and Government land: sections 91 to 105
5. Conversion of agricultural land: section 95
6. Penalty for unauthorised diversion: sections 96 to 98
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. Chapter VII of the KLR Act starts from two presumptions: all land not proved to belong to someone else belongs to the State (section 67), and all land, agricultural or not, pays land revenue unless exempted (section 80). Chapter VIII then governs what an occupant may do with his land, and section 95, the conversion provision, is the most asked section of this unit. It has been recast several times, most recently in 2025.

1. Meaning of land and land revenue

For Chapter VI, section 60 defines “land” to include sites of villages, towns and cities, trees, growing crops and grass, fruit upon and juice in trees, rights of way, ferries and fisheries; and “land revenue” as all sums and payments in money or kind received or claimable by the Government from any person on account of land held by or vested in him, including any tax, cess, rate or other impost payable under any law.

Land revenue is the oldest form of State demand on land. Today its amount on agricultural land is small, but the concept matters because a long list of other dues are “recoverable as arrears of land revenue” (section 190) through the machinery of Chapter XIV.

2. Land: sections 67 to 79

Section 67(1). Public roads, streets, lanes, paths, bridges, ditches, dikes and fences, the bed of the sea and harbours below high-water mark, beds of rivers, streams, nallas, lakes and tanks, canals, water-courses, standing and flowing waters, and all lands which are not the property of individuals or bodies legally capable of holding property, are the property of the State Government, except so far as private rights are established.
Claims (section 67(2)–(3)). A claim by or against the State to such property is decided after formal inquiry by the Assistant Commissioner (or a survey officer of equal rank). His order is appealable only to the Deputy Commissioner within sixty days, whose order is final, with revision only by the Revenue Commissioner (amended by Karnataka Acts 6 and 28 of 2025).
Section 68: rights in a public road not needed by the public may be extinguished by notification after hearing objections. Sections 69 and 69A govern disposal of Government land.
Section 70: mines and minerals vest in the Government.
Section 71: lands assigned for special purposes (grazing, burial grounds, threshing floors) cannot be used otherwise without the Deputy Commissioner’s sanction. Section 72 regulates pasturage.
Sections 73 to 79: rights to trees, forests and natural produce, and recovery of their value when removed unauthorisedly.

3. Land revenue: sections 80 to 90

Section 80. All land, whether used for agriculture or any other purpose and wherever situated, is liable to pay land revenue, except land wholly exempted by special contract, this Act or other law. The Government may exempt classes of land by notification, prospectively or retrospectively.
Section 81. Alluvial land, new islands and abandoned river beds vest in the Government; the holder of the adjoining bank has a preferential claim to them on terms.
Section 83. Assessment of land revenue on land used for agricultural and for non-agricultural purposes; sections 84 to 86 deal with who fixes it and with whom it is settled. Detailed settlement is in Chapter X (sections 114 to 126).
Section 87: paramount charge. Arrears of land revenue are a paramount charge on the holding. Default makes the occupancy, with trees, crops and buildings, liable to forfeiture by order of the Tahsildar, who may then recover the arrears by sale. Section 88 allows forfeited holdings to be taken and disposed of.
Sections 89 and 90. Receipts must be given for every payment; failure is penalised.

4. Occupancy and Government land: sections 91 to 105

Grant (sections 91 to 93). Unoccupied Government land may be granted on conditions, under the Karnataka Land Grant Rules, 1969.
Unauthorised occupation (section 94). A person who occupies Government land without right pays twice the assessment for each year, a fine up to five thousand rupees an acre a year for cultivation (ten thousand for non-agricultural use), and is liable to summary eviction.
Regularisation (section 94A and following). Unauthorised cultivation by eligible small holders may be regularised on application to a committee for each Assembly constituency (the “Bagair Hukum” committee). Karnataka Act 24 of 2024 allows the Government to nominate a member where the local MLA is unwilling or the seat is vacant. Sections 94B to 94D provide for grant of land under dwelling houses on Government land.
Rights of occupants (section 99). An occupant may use and occupy his land for his tenure, on paying land revenue and fulfilling lawful conditions.
Section 100 bars transfer of certain occupancies without sanction; section 101 makes an occupancy heritable and transferable, subject to section 87 and conditions of tenure.
Relinquishment (section 102) in favour of the Government; summary eviction (section 104) of unauthorised occupants of Government land, clarified by Act 6 of 2025.

5. Conversion of agricultural land: section 95

Section 95(1). An occupant of land held for agriculture may erect farm buildings, construct wells or tanks and make improvements for better cultivation, without permission. A farm house may not exceed ten per cent of the holding, subject to a prescribed maximum, and must be used by the farmer, not let out commercially.

Section 95(2): diversion to other purposes. An occupant who wishes to divert agricultural land to another purpose submits an application with an affidavit to the Deputy Commissioner. The procedure depends on where the land is:

Within a published Master Plan under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961: if the intended use is as per the Master Plan land use, no permission of the Deputy Commissioner is required; the prescribed fee is paid to the planning authority with a self-declaration.
Outside a planning area without a Master Plan: the concerned authorities must give their opinion within fifteen days, failing which no objection is deemed; the Deputy Commissioner must decide within thirty days, failing which approval is deemed granted and is certified on payment of the fee.
Industries up to two acres: no diversion is required where agricultural land up to 2.00 acres is used for establishing new industries (provisos added in 2025, following the 2023-24 Budget announcement).
Renewable energy (section 95(10)): land for renewable energy projects is exempted from conversion on payment of the prescribed fee (Act 56 of 2025, w.e.f. 10 September 2025).

Safeguards in section 95(2):

a diversion obtained by a false affidavit is null and void on the Deputy Commissioner’s order, the fee is forfeited, and the land itself may be forfeited;
for part of a survey number, an approved pre-conversion sketch is mandatory (deemed approved if not decided in fifteen days);
if the land is a granted land, the Deputy Commissioner must reject the application if the diversion contravenes the PTCL Act, 1978, the Land Grant Rules, 1969 or the terms of the grant; and
a diversion order does not by itself raise the guidance value until the land is actually put to non-agricultural use.

Other sub-sections: regularisation of residential diversions made before 31 December 2008 on application within the time allowed, except in drains, roads, parks, forest and similar land (section 95(2A) to (2AAA)); deemed permission in Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Kollegal for old diversions (section 95(6a)); conversion fee (section 95(7)); deemed conversion where purchase permission is granted under section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act for industry, education, worship, housing or horticulture (section 95(8)); and quarrying (section 95(9)).

6. Penalty for unauthorised diversion: sections 96 to 98

If agricultural land is diverted without permission, in violation of section 95(2), on a false affidavit, or before the prescribed period, the Deputy Commissioner may summarily evict the occupant and the person responsible, have buildings removed or forfeited after notice, and impose a penalty not exceeding one lakh rupees (section 96(1)). Breach of conditions of a permission leads to similar consequences (section 96(2)). Section 97 governs diversion of non-agricultural land held for a specific purpose, and section 98 allows permission on terms.

Trap. Conversion under the KLR Act is a land-use permission, not a title document. It does not cure a defect in title, does not override the PTCL Act, and since 2020 the separate question whether a non-agriculturist may buy agricultural land is governed by section 80 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act (Unit IV).

How this is examined

“Explain the law relating to conversion of land from agricultural to non-agricultural purpose” was the first Unit III essay in June 2025 and a 16-mark question in August 2024: write sections 5 and 6 with the 2025 changes. “Land revenue” is a frequent 6-mark short note (January 2026, June 2025): give section 60(b), section 80, the paramount charge in section 87 and the recovery machinery in outline.

Now try the real questions: Land Law past question papers.