Land Laws, Tribal Rights and Scheduled Areas
2. The Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908: who holds land
Section 1(2) extends the Act to the North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions. Section 4 names four classes of tenant: tenure-holders (including under-tenure-holders), raiyats, under-raiyats and Mundari khunt-kattidars. Raiyats are of three kinds: occupancy raiyats, non-occupancy raiyats and raiyats having khunt-katti rights.
- Settled raiyat. A person who has held land as a raiyat continuously for 12 years is a settled raiyat (s.17) and has a right of occupancy in it (s.19). The right descends by inheritance but cannot be freely sold (next section).
- Khunt-katti raiyat (s.7): a raiyat descended in the male line from the founders who cleared the village jungle. An enhanced rent cannot exceed half of what an occupancy raiyat pays for similar land (s.37).
- Mundari khunt-kattidar (s.8; Chapter XVIII, ss.239-250): a Mundari who cleared jungle land for cultivation, with his male-line heirs; the tenancy may be held by the whole group.
- Bhuinhari tenure (s.48): land of the original settler families recorded under the 1869 Tenures Act; transfer is restricted much like an aboriginal raiyat's.
- Korkar (ss.64-67A): upland converted into cultivable land by a cultivator with the Deputy Commissioner's permission. The cultivator gets occupancy right, and no rent is payable until four years after the year of the first harvest.
- Village headman (s.3(xxix)): known as Manki, Pradhan or Manjhi. Custom (s.76): nothing in the Act overrides a custom not inconsistent with it.
3. CNT: the sections that guard tribal land
The Act protects the raiyat's holding by forbidding most transfers, then opens narrow, supervised exceptions. Each section below is a question stem in waiting; the numbers in the last column are the usual distractors.
| Section | What it does | Numbers and traps |
|---|---|---|
| 46(1) | A raiyat's mortgage or lease running beyond 5 years, and any sale or gift, is invalid | Bhugut bandha mortgage up to 7 years allowed (15 if the mortgagee is a registered co-operative society) |
| 46, second proviso | An ST occupancy raiyat may sell, exchange, gift or will his holding only with the Deputy Commissioner's previous sanction, and only to an ST person resident in the same police-station area | ST: same police station. SC and Backward Classes: their own group, same district |
| 46(4A) | Deputy Commissioner may annul an illegal transfer, eject the transferee and restore the transferor | Application within 12 years of the transfer |
| 48 | Bhuinhari tenure may be transferred only as an aboriginal raiyat may | Ejectment within 12 years |
| 49 | Transfer for industrial or mining use only by registered deed with the Deputy Commissioner's written consent; land may be used for that purpose alone | State may set aside, within 12 years, consent to an ST holding's transfer obtained by fraud (s.49(5)). Consent is the Deputy Commissioner's, not the Gram Sabha's |
| 71 | A tenant ejected unlawfully may ask to be replaced in possession | 1 year; 3 years for an occupancy raiyat. Not the ST restoration section |
| 71A | Deputy Commissioner may evict the transferee without compensation and restore land of an ST raiyat, Mundari khunt-kattidar or bhuinhar transferred against the Act or by fraud, “at any time” (the Supreme Court still requires a reasonable time) | Added in 1969. Transferee's building may be removed after notice |
| 71B | Penalty for holding land transferred against the Act | Up to 3 years' imprisonment or fine up to Rs 1,000, or both |
| 240 | A Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancy cannot be sold; mortgage only bhugut bandha up to 7 years; leases only of uncultivated land to Mundaris | Section 242 lets the Deputy Commissioner eject one who took possession against it |
4. The Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949
The SPT Act extends to the whole Santal Parganas division (s.1(3)) and “amends and supplements” the earlier law rather than replacing it. Its village is run by a village headman, called pradhan, mustajur or manjhi (s.4(xxiii)), or by a mulraiyat; a village with neither is a khas village. Raiyats are of three classes (s.12): resident jamabandi raiyats, non-resident jamabandi raiyats and new (naya or nutan) raiyats.
- Section 20(1): no transfer by a raiyat (sale, gift, mortgage, will, lease or other contract) is valid unless the right to transfer is recorded in the record-of-rights, and then only to that extent (a proviso lets an aboriginal raiyat, with the Deputy Commissioner's permission, grant up to half the holding to a widowed mother or wife for maintenance). Section 20(2): an aboriginal raiyat's transferable holding may go only to a bona fide cultivating aboriginal raiyat of the same pargana, taluk or tappa, with an exception for a gardi jamai or ghar jamai.
- Section 20(5) (as amended in 1969): the Deputy Commissioner may evict a transferee from an ST raiyat's land transferred against s.20(1) or (2) or by fraud, including a collusive decree, and restore it or re-settle it with another ST raiyat. A building raised within 30 years can be removed after notice.
- Section 41: in a Paharia village within the Damin-i-Koh Government Estate no vacant holding or waste land may be settled with a non-Paharia. Section 42: the Deputy Commissioner may at any time eject a person in unauthorised possession of agricultural land.
- Section 43: rent in kind (bhaoli, batai, krisani, danabandi) is not recognised by any court. Section 9: the village headman cannot transfer his office. Section 69: no right accrues over land held against s.20, public-works land, a headman's official holding, grazing land, jaherthan or burning and burial grounds.
5. CNT and SPT compared
| Point | Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 | Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949 |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Consolidating Act (“to amend and consolidate”) | Supplementary Act (“to amend and supplement”) |
| Area | North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions (s.1(2)) | Santal Parganas division (s.1(3)) |
| Village head | Manki, Pradhan or Manjhi (s.3) | Pradhan, mustajur or manjhi; or mulraiyat (s.4) |
| Classes | Tenure-holders, raiyats (occupancy, non-occupancy, khunt-katti), under-raiyats, Mundari khunt-kattidars (s.4) | Resident jamabandi, non-resident jamabandi and new raiyats (s.12) |
| General bar on transfer | s.46: sale or gift invalid; mortgage or lease over 5 years invalid; ST may transfer with the Deputy Commissioner's sanction to an ST of the same police-station area | s.20: invalid unless transferability is recorded; aboriginal to aboriginal raiyat of the same pargana, taluk or tappa |
| Restoration of ST land | s.71A, with penalty in s.71B | s.20(5) |
| Special land | Mundari khunt-kattidari (s.240), bhuinhari (s.48), korkar (ss.64-67A) | Paharia villages of Damin-i-Koh (s.41), jaherthan (s.34) |
| Rent | Enhancement by the Deputy Commissioner on stated grounds (ss.27-35) | Money rent only; rent in kind unrecognised (s.43) |
6. The 1969 machinery, the courts and the 2016 attempt
The Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulation, 1969 (Bihar Regulation 1 of 1969) put ss.71A and 71B into the CNT Act and amended s.20(5) of the SPT Act. The limitation for a suit to recover immovable property of a Scheduled Tribe member was extended to 30 years at the same time. Restoration cases are registered as SAR (Scheduled Area Regulation) cases, heard by an officer empowered by the Deputy Commissioner, with appeal and revision above him. Section 46 itself came earlier, through the 1947 amending Act (Bihar Act 25 of 1947), in force from January 1948.
- Pandey Oraon v. Ram Chander Sahu (Supreme Court, 18 July 1991): “transfer” in s.71A is not limited to the Transfer of Property Act; wherever possession has passed from an ST member to a non-member, the section can act. Protective law is read liberally.
- Situ Sahu v. State of Jharkhand (Supreme Court, 10 September 2004): s.71A says “at any time”, but the power must still be used within a reasonable time; a delay of about 40 years was held unreasonable and the restoration order was set aside, even though the Court was ready to treat a surrender and a settlement as one transaction.
- 2016-17. The Assembly passed amending Bills for both Acts in November 2016 to ease non-agricultural use of raiyati land (touching s.21 of the CNT Act and s.13 of the SPT Act). After opposition the Governor returned them in 2017 and the government announced their withdrawal in August 2017.
7. Fifth Schedule, Scheduled Areas and PESA
Article 244(1) applies the Fifth Schedule to Jharkhand (the Sixth Schedule belongs to Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram). Paragraph 3: the Governor reports annually to the President on the Scheduled Areas, and the Union may give directions. Paragraph 4: a Tribes Advisory Council of up to 20 members, about three-fourths of them ST members of the Assembly, advises on matters the Governor refers. Paragraph 5: the Governor may direct that a law shall not apply, or applies with changes, in a Scheduled Area, and may make regulations to prohibit or restrict transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribe members, regulate allotment of land and regulate moneylending; such regulations need the President's assent and prior consultation with the Council. Paragraph 6: the President declares and alters Scheduled Areas, consulting the Governor.
For Jharkhand's territory the orders run: Scheduled Areas (Part A States) Order, 1950; Scheduled Areas (States of Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa) Order, 1977 (31 December 1977); Scheduled Areas (States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh) Order, 2003 (20 February 2003); and the Scheduled Areas (State of Jharkhand) Order, 2007 (11 April 2007). The criteria followed are a preponderance of tribal population, compactness and reasonable size, under-development and marked economic disparity.
Part IX of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) does not apply to Scheduled Areas (art. 243M); PESA 1996 (the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, assented 24 December 1996) extends it with changes: a Gram Sabha in every village; seats reserved for STs in proportion to population and never below half, with all chairperson posts reserved for STs; the Gram Sabha consulted before land acquisition and resettlement; its recommendation required before minor-mineral licences; ownership of minor forest produce; and power to prevent alienation of land and restore unlawfully alienated ST land (s.4(m)(iii)). Jharkhand's state PESA rules were still being finalised in the period of this course; check their status before quoting them.
8. Forest rights, land reform and reservation
The Forest Rights Act, 2006 (Act 2 of 2007, dated 29 December 2006) recognises individual rights over forest land occupied before 13 December 2005, capped at 4 hectares, and community rights including the right to protect and manage a community forest resource. An “other traditional forest dweller” must have lived in the forest for three generations of 25 years. Rights are heritable but not alienable. The Gram Sabha starts the process, a Sub-Divisional Level Committee examines it and the District Level Committee decides finally; no one may be evicted until the process is complete (s.4(5)).
Land reform is mostly inherited from Bihar: the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 abolished intermediaries. The Patna High Court struck it down in 1951, and the First Amendment (1951) added Articles 31A and 31B and the Ninth Schedule to protect such laws. A Bihar ceiling law of 1961 followed. These did not displace the tenancy codes, so tribal land is still protected by status-based restraints rather than by ceilings alone. Why alienation continued (a Mains frame): moneylending debt, mining and industrial acquisition, fraud in records and benami purchases, weak mutation records and slow courts, and the gap between the law's protection and local enforcement.
Reservation. The Constitution reserves seats for SCs and STs in the House of the People (art. 330), State Assemblies (art. 332) and Panchayats and municipalities (arts. 243D, 243T), and provides for services through arts. 16(4), 16(4A) and 335. The Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 fixed Jharkhand's Assembly at 81 seats, of which 9 are for SCs and 28 for STs (s.12), and gave it 14 House of the People seats, 1 for SCs and 5 for STs (s.9). The nomination of an Anglo-Indian member ended in 2020.
Key takeaways
- Two tenancy codes: the CNT Act, 1908 for the North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions, and the SPT Act, 1949 for the Santal Parganas division. Memory chain: 1869, 1872, 1908, 1949.
- CNT: s.46 restricts transfer (ST to ST of the same police station, with the Deputy Commissioner's sanction), s.49 is the industrial and mining exception, s.71A restores ST land, s.71B punishes, s.240 protects Mundari khunt-kattidari land.
- SPT: s.20 allows transfer only where the right is recorded, and aboriginal to aboriginal of the same pargana, taluk or tappa; s.20(5) restores; s.41 protects Paharia villages of Damin-i-Koh; s.43 bars rent in kind.
- The Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulation, 1969 gave both Acts their restoration power, and the Supreme Court reads “transfer” widely (Pandey Oraon, 1991) but wants s.71A used within a reasonable time (Situ Sahu, 2004). The 2016 amendment Bills were withdrawn in 2017.
- Fifth Schedule: Governor's report (para 3), Tribes Advisory Council (para 4), Governor's regulations on land transfer (para 5), President's Scheduled Areas orders (para 6). PESA says the Gram Sabha is consulted, not that it consents, before land acquisition.
- FRA 2006: occupation before 13 December 2005, up to 4 hectares, Gram Sabha then sub-divisional then district committee. Jharkhand's Assembly has 81 seats: 9 SC, 28 ST.
Practice questions (17)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Under the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, which section lets the Deputy Commissioner evict a transferee and restore land of a Scheduled Tribe raiyat transferred against the Act or by fraud, without compensation?
Show answer
Answer: C — Section 71A
Section 71A, added in 1969, gives this power: eviction without compensation and restoration to the transferor or his heir. Section 71 is a separate remedy for a tenant ejected in breach of section 68, within one year (three for an occupancy raiyat); 71B is the penalty; 72 concerns surrender.Section 1(3) of the Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949 extends the Act to which territory?
Show answer
Answer: A — The Santal Parganas division
Section 1(3) extends the SPT Act to the whole Santal Parganas division. The North Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions are under the CNT Act, 1908 (its section 1(2)), and Kolhan is not a Santal Parganas division at all.Consider these statements.
P. The CNT Act, 1908 extends to the North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions.
Q. The SPT Act, 1949 was enacted as Bihar Act 14 of 1949.
R. Under section 46 of the CNT Act, a raiyat's mortgage or lease running beyond five years is invalid.
S. A Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancy may be sold outright by its holder to any other raiyat of the village.
Which statements are correct?Show answer
Answer: B — P, Q and R only
P, Q and R are correct: section 1(2) of the CNT Act, the SPT Act's enactment as Bihar Act 14 of 1949, and section 46(1), first limb, which voids a mortgage or lease beyond five years. S is wrong because section 240(1) bars sale of a Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancy, whether by private bargain or in execution of a decree (the one narrow exception is a pre-1903 mortgage debt, with the Deputy Commissioner's sanction). The option P and Q only drops R, the section 46 rule.A Munda occupancy raiyat, a Scheduled Tribe member, wants to sell his holding in Khunti district to another Scheduled Tribe person. Under the CNT Act, which condition must be met for a valid sale?
Show answer
Answer: D — The Deputy Commissioner's previous sanction, and a Scheduled Tribe buyer from the same police-station area
Section 46, second proviso, first limb, requires the Deputy Commissioner's previous sanction and a buyer who is an ST member resident in the same police-station area. The district-wide option is the tempting trap: the district rule applies to SC and Backward Class buyers under the second limb, not to ST sales.Arrange these in chronological order of enactment.
P. Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act.
Q. Chota Nagpur Tenures Act.
R. Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act.
S. Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulation.
Which order is correct?Show answer
Answer: B — Q, R, P, S
The Tenures Act is 1869, the CNT Act 1908, the SPT Act 1949 and the Scheduled Areas Regulation 1969. The trap is the SPT Act, which candidates place next to the CNT Act because both are tenancy codes, though it came 41 years later.Which of the following is NOT a provision of the Santal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949?
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Answer: C — Rent in kind is recognised by a court when the landlord and raiyat agree to it in a registered deed
Section 43 bars any court from recognising rent in kind, whatever the contract. The other options restate section 20(1), section 43(2) and section 9. Only the claim that a court recognises rent in kind, even under a registered deed, contradicts the Act.On what date is the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 (Bengal Act 6 of 1908) dated?
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Answer: A — 11 November 1908
The Act is dated 11 November 1908 in its enactment line. 1 November 1949 is the commencement of the SPT Act, 22 March 1912 is Bihar's separation from the Bengal Presidency, and 15 November 2000 is Jharkhand's formation.Which statement correctly describes the Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulation, 1969 in relation to Jharkhand's tenancy laws?
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Answer: D — It inserted sections 71A and 71B into the CNT Act and amended section 20(5) of the SPT Act
The 1969 Regulation introduced sections 71A and 71B and amended section 20(5) of the SPT Act, as the Supreme Court recorded in Situ Sahu (2004). The Scheduled Areas were first declared by the President's 1950 order; PESA 1996 requires consultation, not consent; and the SPT Act was not abolished.Under paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule, the Governor may make regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area. Which of the following is one power the paragraph lists for such regulations?
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Answer: A — Prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes
Paragraph 5(2) lists three examples, in its items one to three,: restricting land transfer among STs, regulating land allotment to STs, and regulating moneylending. Panchayat dissolution, Assembly seats and PSC appointments are not in that list, and such regulations need the President's assent.Which body, of up to twenty members with about three-fourths of them Scheduled Tribe members of the Legislative Assembly, advises the Governor on the welfare of Scheduled Tribes?
Show answer
Answer: C — Tribes Advisory Council
Paragraph 4 of the Fifth Schedule creates the Tribes Advisory Council. The Sub-Divisional and District Level Committees belong to the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and decide forest claims. The Gram Sabha is a village body under PESA, not an advisory council to the Governor.Under the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, before land is acquired for a development project in a Scheduled Area, the Gram Sabha or the Panchayat at the appropriate level must be:
Show answer
Answer: B — Consulted
The 1996 Act requires the Gram Sabha or Panchayat to be consulted before acquisition and before resettlement. The word consent appears in some state-level rules and commentary, not in the central Act, so a question on the Act itself keys on consultation.Under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, forest rights are recognised for land occupied before which date?
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Answer: D — 13 December 2005
Section 4(3) (with the definitions in section 2) uses 13 December 2005 as the occupation cut-off. The claim is then capped at four hectares under section 4(6). 15 November 2000 is Jharkhand's formation, a common distractor.A forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribe family occupied and cultivated 6 hectares of forest land on 13 December 2005. Under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, what is the maximum area for which an individual right of self-cultivation may be recognised?
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Answer: A — 4 hectares
Section 4(6) caps the land recognised for individual self-cultivation at four hectares, however large the actual occupation before 13 December 2005. The six hectares is the occupied area, not the recognisable one, so the option 6 hectares is the naive trap.Under section 12 of the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly was fixed at 81 seats at its formation. How many of those seats were reserved for Scheduled Tribes?
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Answer: C — 28
Section 12 fixes 81 seats with 9 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 28 for Scheduled Tribes. The 9 is the SC figure, the usual mix-up. The question is scoped to the 2000 Act's figures at formation.Consider these statements on the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act.
P. A cultivator who converts upland into korkar with the Deputy Commissioner's permission gets a right of occupancy in it without 12 years' cultivation.
Q. Rent on korkar land is payable from the first year of cultivation.
R. A Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancy may be leased only to a Mundari, and only as a mukarrari lease or a lease of uncultivated land.
S. The Deputy Commissioner must decide a korkar application within three months.
Which statements are correct?Show answer
Answer: C — P, R and S only
Q is false: section 67A(1), first limb, gives a rent-free period of four years after the year of first harvest. P, R and S match sections 67, 240(4) and the proviso to section 64(2). The option P and Q only is the trap because it keeps the true P and the false Q.Four sections of the CNT Act are listed as section numbers 46, 49, 71A and 240, and four subjects are labelled P, Q, R and S. P: restoration of Scheduled Tribe land. Q: transfer of a holding for industrial or mining use. R: restriction on transfer of a raiyat's holding. S: restriction on Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancies. Which pairing of section and subject label is correct?
Show answer
Answer: A — 46 with R, 49 with Q, 71A with P, 240 with S
Section 46 restricts transfer of a raiyat's holding (R); section 49 permits transfer for industrial and mining use (Q); section 71A restores ST land (P); section 240 restricts Mundari khunt-kattidari tenancies (S). Each wrong option swaps at least two pairs, so a single correct pairing is enough to check the answer.Consider these statements.
P. A transfer of an occupancy holding for mining needs a registered deed and the Deputy Commissioner's written consent before the land is transferred.
Q. Under section 20(1) of the SPT Act, a raiyat's transfer is valid only to the extent recorded in the record-of-rights.
R. Under section 71A of the CNT Act, a restoration application must be filed within 12 years of the transfer.
S. Under section 20(5) of the SPT Act, the Deputy Commissioner may act where a Scheduled Tribe raiyat's land was transferred against section 20(1) or 20(2), or by fraud.
Which statements are correct?Show answer
Answer: A — P, Q and S only
R is false: section 71A says “at any time” and sets no limitation period (the Supreme Court in Situ Sahu, 2004, adds only that the power must be used within a reasonable time). The 12-year bars belong to section 46(4A) and section 49(5). P, Q and S match the Act texts. The option P and Q only is tempting because it omits S, which is the fraud limb of section 20(5).