KATHMANDU, May 6: The government has tabled a controversial bill to amend the Lands Act in the parliament. The bill aims to revise both the Lands Act, 2021 BS and the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 2029 BS.
The Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation prepared the draft bill and is now in the registration process in the federal parliament. The draft contains provisions identical to those in the ordinance that the President issued on January 15 after a brief delay.
Although the President issued the ordinance, the House of Representatives (HoR) failed to pass the substitution bill due to controversy, leaving it invalid. On March 26, the ruling parties—the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML—decided not to endorse the substitution bill and instead chose to register a new land-related bill. Since the substitution bill did not progress, it automatically became void on March 31, after the 60-day deadline from the start of the parliamentary session.
Parliament commenced its winter session on January 31. On February 11, the parliamentary party meeting of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) decided to reject the land-related ordinance. Several lawmakers from the Nepali Congress (NC) also opposed the bill.
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The government is preparing to register the land bill in the parliament within a day or two. The bill exempts ongoing real estate businesses from landholding limits but continues to restrict the sale of land that exceeds the prescribed ceiling. It allows real estate developers to obtain approval to hold land beyond the ceiling and develop and sell residential plots within a fixed timeframe. The bill also bars the mortgage or sale of land reserved for public use.
The bill further states that if individuals have built homes or shelters and lived for a long time on land recorded during the initial survey as grazing fields, marketplaces or riverbanks—and if the local executive confirms that such land is no longer used for those purposes—then authorities may allocate the land to landless individuals, Dalits, landless squatters or unorganized settlers.
JSP Nepal opposed some of the provisions of the ordinance, warning that they could harm the environment, alter the country's demographic structure and disrupt peace and security. The party accused powerful business groups and land mafias of eyeing forest areas, public and unregistered lands, marketplaces and riverbanks. It also concluded that the ordinance would ultimately destroy the Chure region.
JSP-Nepal urged the government to first identify and verify the total number of landless squatters. The party recommended allocating land only after completing this verification process. Without JSP- Nepal's support, the government failed to secure a majority in the National Assembly and could not move the ordinance forward.
However, the government has kept the ordinance's provisions unchanged in the bill without making any amendments. Since JSP Nepal had already opposed those provisions, their presence in the bill makes it difficult for the government to pass it in the National Assembly as it stands. As a result, the bill is likely to face extensive amendments during parliamentary deliberations.
Despite the controversy, the government is moving ahead to register the draft bill in Parliament, claiming it aims to facilitate authorized real estate companies and allocate land to the landless, Dalits, landless squatters and unorganized settlers.
