Benap / Nayabad
बेनाप / नयाबादUttarakhand land records glossary · Land Types & Tenure
What is Benap / Nayabad?
In the hills, old settlements measured only cultivated land; the slopes beyond were left unmeasured (benap) and were declared state property back in 1893. Nayabad is newly broken-in cultivation on such land - regulated in Kumaon by the Kumaun Nayabad and Waste Lands Act, 1948, which required permission to extend fields onto adjoining unmeasured land. Occupation of benap land does not by itself create ownership - a frequent source of hill land disputes.
Related terms
More in Land Types & Tenure
- Bhumidhar - The strongest form of land right - effectively full ownership.
- Sirdar - A historical tenure below bhumidhar - could farm but not sell; mostly upgraded now.
- Asami - The weakest tenure - a tenant of gaon sabha or of special-category land.
- ZA & LR Act - The 1950 law that abolished landlords and created today's tenure system.
- Section 143 (Land-use change) - The process that converts farm land into 'abadi' so it can be used for housing.
- Section 154 (Purchase limits) - The rule limiting how much agricultural land a non-farmer/outsider can buy.
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