Income limit for free land assignment raised to ₹2.5 lakh

The income limit for free assignment of land has been raised from the current ₹1 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh, Minister for Revenue K. Rajan has said.

With this decision, a long-standing demand of the people has been realised. It was back in 2013 that the income limit was fixed at ₹1 lakh.

As the annual income limit of ₹1 lakh was too little when the living standards in the State were taken into consideration, those with income above that could be assigned land only by paying market rates. The hike in income limit to ₹2.5 lakh will bring relief to hundreds of beneficiaries, the Minister said.

As many as 2.25 lakh title deeds have been distributed since the current government came to power. The income limit was posing a hurdle for land assignment to those who were in possession of government land for long and had built houses on them. This made the Minister give instructions for amendment to rules, a statement on Thursday said.

The implementation of this decision would mark the ninth amendment to be introduced in the Revenue department since the current government took over.