The Assam Legislative Assembly passed a revised Bill amending the Assam Land Revenue and Regulation Act to restrict land transactions near historic monuments.
The new law restricts property sales within a five-kilometre radius of heritage structures older than 250 years, such as Barpeta Sattra and Majuli sattras.
An "original inhabitant" is now defined as someone residing in the area with their family for three generations, calculated as 25 years per generation, up to January 1, 2006.
Assam Passes Revised Heritage Land Bill: Himanta Biswa Sarma Defends Law
The Assam Assembly has passed a revised land Bill restricting property sales around historic religious sites and redefining the term 'original inhabitants'.
Summary
The Assam Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed a revised Bill amending the Assam Land Revenue and Regulation Act. The legislation restricts land sales and purchases around historic religious monuments.
An earlier amendment passed in 2024 restricted property transactions within a 5 km radius of 250-year-old heritage structures to "original inhabitants" but never came into force. That statute defined original inhabitants as people living in the area with their families "for three generations prior to the date of commencement of the Act".
The state government has stated on multiple occasions that the protected institutions include Barpeta Sattra, Batadrava Than and the sattras of Majuli. These sites are key centres of Assam's neo-Vaishnavite traditions.
New Heritage Land Rules
The revised Bill tweaks the definition of an original inhabitant to regulate land transactions. Under the new rules, this status applies to a person who has been living in that area along with his family for the last three generations up to January 1, 2006. The law explicitly defines a generation as "a period of 25 years of continuous living".
Local authorities also gain new enforcement powers under the legislation. The amended Bill proposes that the District Commissioner may evict "unauthorised occupants" from the defined protected heritage area.
Exemptions and Secular Claims
However, the Bill makes a broad set of exemptions for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. It also exempts "indigenous ethnic communities"—defined as Moran, Motok, Chutia, Koch Rajbonshi and Ahom—and "disadvantaged groups" from the tea and Adivasi communities, alongside other groups notified by the government "from time to time".
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended the secular nature of the amendments during the discussion.
"If there’s any religious institution more than 250 years old, within 5 km around there, only the indigenous people there will stay...Even I can’t go and stay there. It is not discriminating against religious minority. It is for everybody...And the original inhabitants will stay there, whether they are Hindu or Muslim," Sarma said
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