BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Saturday introduced the Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the Assembly to bring further clarity to homestead landless persons or families living in rural areas, and the settlement of government land under unauthorised occupation for housing purposes.
The Bill introduced by Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari proposes to bring in a necessary amendment in the 1972 Act to the effect that a person who owns homestead landless than one-twenty fifth of an acre, subject to fulfilling other criteria, shall also be considered as a homesteadless person.
“The OPLE Act, 1972, debars a person/family who possesses even a small piece of homestead land, say 500 sq ft, in a rural area from being treated as “homesteadless person” even if he fulfils the other conditions as specified in the Act. The said person shall be liable for eviction (in case of unauthorised occupation of government land),” Pujari stated.
The Odisha Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972, provides for summary eviction of any person unauthorisedly occupying land for which he is liable to pay assessment (a fee or penalty to be assessed by tehsildar). At the same time, the Act also provides for settlement of the land not exceeding one-tenth of an acre if the person in unauthorised occupation of such land is a “homesteadless person” and utilising the land as homestead.
As per the existing provisions of the OPLE Act, 1972, a person shall be eligible for settlement of land which is in his unauthorised occupation and is being utilised by him as homestead if he or she does not have any homestead land anywhere in the state and owns less than one standard acre of land other than homestead. The total income of his family should also not exceed an amount as specified by the government by notification from time to time, the minister said. In the amendment, it is proposed to provide that the land shall be settled with the homesteadless person with heritable but not transferable right and the extent of land so settled shall be such that the settled land together with the homestead land, if any owned by him and by all the members of his family who are living with him in common mess, shall, on no account, exceed one-twenty fifth of an acre.
The bill also proposes to insert a new clause in the Act to the effect that the homesteadless person having less than one-twenty fifth of an acre of land shall be entitled for the rest quantum of land in the adjacent area if available or rest portion of land elsewhere or in the event of his willingness to exchange.