Every dag in a West Bengal record of rights carries a recorded classification — sali (সালি) for paddy land, danga for higher dry land, bastu (বাস্তু) for homestead, pukur or doba for a water body, and others. Using land for a purpose other than the one recorded is a contravention of sections 4A to 4D of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955. Permission must be obtained before the use changes, on an application to the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer, the Divisional officer or the District Land and Land Reforms Officer, according to the area of the plot. Mutation must be complete in the applicant’s name before conversion is applied for.
The scheme of the Act
Four sections govern this.
Section 4A prohibits a change in the area, character or mode of use of land without prior permission. Section 4B provides the procedure for applying and the fee. Section 4C governs the grant or refusal of permission and the conditions attached. Section 4D deals with the position where the use has already been changed without permission.
The prohibition bites on use, not on ownership. A purchaser acquires the land with its recorded class, and building a house on land recorded as sali is unlawful whether or not the purchaser knew the class, and whether or not the seller told him.
Who decides
| Extent of the plot | Authority |
|---|---|
| Up to 10 decimals | Block Land and Land Reforms Officer |
| Above 10 decimals and up to 1 acre | Sub-Divisional or Divisional Land and Land Reforms Officer |
| Above 1 acre | District Land and Land Reforms Officer / Additional District Magistrate (Land Reforms), as Collector |
Where the land lies within an area for which a development or planning authority has been constituted, the authority considering an application under section 4C may consult the planning authority under the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979, and the permitted use will also be governed by the applicable land use plan. Within the area of the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation, different arrangements apply.
The application
Applications are made through banglarbhumi.gov.in, under the citizen services for online application, and the progress is traceable against the application reference number. Mutation must be complete in the applicant’s name first. An application made while mutation is pending is liable to be rejected on that ground, and this is the single most frequent cause of a rejected conversion.
The prescribed application fee is nominal. The conversion fee proper is calculated on the area of the land, its location — rural, municipal, or within the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority area — and the use applied for, and residential use is generally charged at a lower rate than commercial or industrial use. The current scale is fixed by departmental circular, and the amount for a particular plot is generated when the application is made. [VERIFY: whether to publish the current per-decimal scale here or to link to the departmental circular only — the figures were last notified by circular no. 4403/L.R. dated 28 December 2005 and have been revised since; obtain the current circular before publishing any figure]
Any land revenue outstanding must be cleared before permission issues.
Water bodies
A dag recorded as pukur, doba or any other water body is treated separately and much more strictly. Filling a water body is subject to specific prohibition and to directions of the Calcutta High Court, and permission to convert one is exceptional. A plot which appears on an older mouza map as a water body and on the ground as filled land is a serious defect, whatever the current record shows, and the earlier map is the document to obtain.
Where the use has already been changed
Section 4D and the provisions on regularisation allow a change made without permission to be regularised in defined cases. Regularisation is confined to small plots — not exceeding a prescribed extent within municipal limits, and a somewhat larger extent outside them — is made on a report of the Collector and only where the State Government is satisfied that it is in the public interest, and does not extend to a plot comprising a water body of any description or size.
An unauthorised change that does not fall within those limits is not curable by application. The exposure is to a demand, to an order to restore the land, and in the case of a building to demolition. It also affects the ability to sell, because a purchaser’s bank will not lend against a structure on unconverted agricultural land.
Documents you will need
- Certified copy of the current record of rights showing the applicant as holder
- The mutation certificate
- The registered deed by which the applicant acquired the land
- The latest land revenue receipt
- A sketch map of the plot showing the area proposed to be converted
- The purpose for which the land is to be used
- Where the land is in a planning area, the applicable land use particulars
- The receipted challan for the application and conversion fees
Frequently asked questions
Can I build a house on land recorded as sali?
Not until the classification is changed by permission under section 4C. Construction without it is unlawful and exposes the owner to a demand and to an order to restore the land.
Do I need conversion before or after mutation?
After. Mutation must be complete in your name before a conversion application will be entertained.
How long does conversion take?
It depends on the extent of the plot, the authority before whom it lies, and whether the papers are complete. There is no statutory period, and an application with a defective record of rights will take much longer than one without.
Can a pond be filled and converted?
Only exceptionally. Water bodies are subject to specific prohibitions and to directions of the High Court, and regularisation of an unauthorised filling does not extend to them.
The scale of conversion fees and the extent of the powers of each authority are fixed by notification and circular and are revised from time to time. This page describes the general position and is not advice on any particular plot.