In a major policy shift aimed at speeding up land and property transactions, the Gujarat government has amended Section 135D of the Land Revenue Act, 1879, effectively removing the long-standing 30-day public notice period in clear, undisputed cases.
Until now, every land or property sale required a mandatory 30-day window after registration, during which objections could be raised. This provision, originally intended as a safeguard against fraudulent or disputed transactions, had increasingly become a bottleneck — and, as the government admits, a tool for harassment.
Under the new rules, if a property meets strict criteria — no change in ownership records in the past year, no pending litigation or claims, peaceful possession, and signatures from all recorded rights holders in the 7/12 extract — the sale entry will now be certified immediately, on the same day, with no waiting period.
“For long, people had to wait because of the 30-day notice period, and some elements misused this window to raise false objections and extort money,” state government spokesperson Jitu Vaghani said, explaining the rationale behind the amendment. “Henceforth, where there is no dispute, no change in record for over a year, and all stakeholders have signed, the sale entry will be recorded and certified immediately.”
For cases that carry a higher risk profile — such as recent changes in land records, transactions executed through power of attorney (PoA), missing signatories, or ongoing disputes — the notice period has not been scrapped entirely but reduced from 30 days to seven days.
Vaghani added that the reform would ease transactions not just for agricultural land but also for urban property. “Cases pending in revenue courts, delayed due to objections under Section 135D, will be resolved faster. Blackmailing through frivolous objections based on old agreements will also stop,” he said.
The reform is expected to significantly reduce delays in mutation entries — the formal recording of ownership changes in government land records — which often held up transactions even after sale deeds were executed. By enabling near-instant certification in clean cases, the government is attempting to align land administration with the speed of modern real estate activity.
However, the move also shifts the balance between speed and scrutiny. The removal of a public objection window in a state where land disputes, title ambiguities, and informal claims are not uncommon could raise concerns about whether due diligence is being compressed too aggressively.
Alongside this amendment, the government has also diluted provisions of the Gujarat Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947, or the ‘Tukda Act’. Urban areas under municipal corporations, municipalities and urban development authorities have now been fully exempted from its provisions.
“Considering the pace of urbanisation, this will make non-agricultural approvals and land transactions in urban areas faster and more transparent,” Vaghani said.
Together, these reforms signal a clear policy direction: prioritising ease of doing business, faster title transfers, and real estate liquidity over procedural safeguards that were seen as outdated or prone to misuse.
Industry bodies, including Credai-Gujarat, have welcomed the move, calling it a step toward greater transparency and efficiency. Faster title clearance, they argue, will improve investor confidence, unlock liquidity, and accelerate project execution.
Yet, the broader question remains — whether removing friction from land transactions will genuinely clean up the system, or simply shift risks into a faster, less visible pipeline. In Gujarat’s complex land ecosystem, where legality and informality often overlap, the success of this reform will depend not just on speed, but on the robustness of verification mechanisms that replace the scrapped safeguards.
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