raju 26 May 2023

My father land is succession to my mother name after his death, came to know it is in ceiling land

We have found part of Land is on my father name and applied for succession after his death, so it is changed to my mother name. Currently it is on my mohter name.

Currently some other people are cultivating the same. We found later it is ceiling land.

What is the possibility of recover this land from my mohter?

is there any way we can fight against this in the court?

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1 Replies

Pankhuri Rastogi 24 October 2024

Good Day Raju,

As per your concern, I would like to answer your query. Here is my advice:

As you have said the land is classified as ceiling land, so there may be some problems in the recovery of the land. You can still try some legal options available, but there are very less chances to get the land recovered, and that totally depends on the laws of your concerned area as well as how the land was categorized and allotted.

Let me first tell you what is a CEILING LAND. So, it refers to agricultural land that is in surplus and exceeds the ceiling limit imposed by the land reform laws. This is done to redistribute the land who are landless. This means that the extra land was taken by the government and was redistributed to the people who were in need for cultivation purposes.

As per the situation, it can be easily understood that the land was already redistributed to the people by the government when it was termed the “ceiling land” and the recovery seems really tough. But for your convenience, I am providing a procedure you can try.

Firstly, the status of the land under the revenue department has to be checked against government records to confirm if the land falls under the ceiling law. If yes, you can make the claims under the exemption clause of the ceiling law as some properties are exempt under ceiling laws either because of their nature or ownership, such as small farmers and family heritage properties.

In case the classification appears to be wrong you can appeal it before the respective revenue authority by referring to cases like State of Haryana v. Vinod Kumar (2005) where it is held that such declaration proceedings without following proper procedure are not valid. In cases where the lands in question are already put to use by other parties, a lawsuit for possession and title will have to be applied. Some jurisdictions tend to offer a remedy for possession, where it is established that the land in question has not been properly allocated to any individual following the law.

I hope this works out for you. If there is anything else that you would like to ask, feel free to ask.

Best regards.