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PLPA Section 4 Land in Gurgaon-Faridabad: the Aravalli Build Ban (2026)
What section 4 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act means for farmland in southern Haryana, and how to check a khasra before you buy.
Some farmland in Gurugram, Faridabad and nearby districts is covered by a notification under the old Punjab Land Preservation Act, and the Supreme Court has been told such land is forest. This guide explains the sections, the court position as far as we could confirm it, and the checks to run.
Why PLPA land is the classic Aravalli trap
In Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh and other southern Haryana districts, the most serious land risk is not always a title defect. It is a notification under an old Act, the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 (PLPA), that can turn land which looks like private farmland into land treated as forest. Buyers meet it as "PLPA land", "section 4 land" or a record entry such as gair mumkin pahar (ग़ैर मुमकिन पहाड़, "not possible, hill") in the jamabandi.
This guide explains what the Act says, what the Supreme Court has said in the Aravalli matters as we could confirm, and how to check a khasra. Read it with our broader guides to Aravalli and green belt restrictions in the NCR and the forest conservation law. It names no company or developer, and nothing here is a legal opinion.
What the Act says: sections 3, 4 and 5
We read the Haryana Forest Department's page on the Act and the consolidated text recorded in our legal library. Haryana renamed the Act the Haryana Land Preservation Act by Act 15 of 2021, but the old name PLPA is still what records and courts use.
- Section 3 lets the Government notify areas where it is desirable to conserve sub-soil water or prevent erosion. The Forest Department page says notified areas cover parts of ten districts: Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Mewat (Nuh), Gurgaon, Palwal, Faridabad, Mahendergarh, Rewari and Bhiwani.
- Section 4 lets the Government, for areas notified under section 3, temporarily regulate, restrict or prohibit listed activities by general or special order. The page lists clearing or breaking up land not ordinarily under cultivation, quarrying, cutting trees and grazing.
- Section 5 allows special orders for named villages or parts of villages, covering similar activities, including cutting trees for any purpose.
- Section 19, per the same page, provides for imprisonment of up to one month, a fine of up to 100 rupees, or both for breach of rules under these sections.
The page also states that areas closed under sections 4 and 5 are recorded as forest in government records and that, under an interim Supreme Court order in CWP 202, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 applies in notified areas. That Act is now the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980. Section 2 needs the Centre's prior approval to use forest land for non-forest purposes, and section 1A(1)(b), inserted in 2023, covers land recorded as forest in government records on or after 25 October 1980, according to our legal library.
What the Supreme Court has said
Our research notes summarise Narinder Singh v. Divesh Bhutani, Civil Appeal 10294 of 2013 and connected matters, decided by a bench including Justice Abhay S. Oka. We did not re-open the judgment for this page, so treat the following as reported in our notes: land covered by a special section 4 order is "forest land" for the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; the Court did not decide whether land under a section 5 order is automatically forest; and a bare section 3 notification alone neither imposes a restriction nor makes land forest. The notes also record that section 4 and 5 orders cover about 31,738 hectares, around 7.1 per cent of the area of the 22 districts discussed. The date was not visible in our copy; LiveLaw reported oral remarks on 29 March 2022.
Separately, press reports say Haryana's 2019 amendment of the PLPA was stayed by the Supreme Court. We only saw that in a headline, and the consolidated text we have does not include it. Our research also records, from a Newslaundry report of 28 October 2025, that a district committee identified 6,793 unauthorised structures on 780 acres in four Faridabad villages and that 241 structures, mostly farmhouses and banquet halls, were demolished in June 2025. This is a secondary report and we have not seen the official figures.
The separate Aravalli definition case
People confuse PLPA land with the Supreme Court's wider proceedings on how to define the Aravalli hills. They are different. We opened the LiveLaw report of 7 September 2026: the Court rejected a six-month extension sought by a five-member High-Powered Committee, set 30 November 2026 as the deadline for its report, and listed the matter for 2 December 2026. It also reported that an earlier November judgment accepted an operational definition for mining in which a landform rising at least 100 metres above local relief counts as an Aravalli Hill and hills within 500 metres of each other form a range. Our notes say the Court stayed that acceptance on 29 December 2025 pending a fresh expert review. Three things therefore need separate checking: the name "Aravalli" in a listing, legally notified PLPA land, and the Court's definition. A plot can fall under one and not another, and the definition may still change.
What gair mumkin pahar means
In Haryana jamabandis, land is given a class. Gair mumkin (ग़ैर मुमकिन) classes are land that is not cultivable, and pahar means hill. We could not find a Haryana Government page defining "gair mumkin pahar" word for word, so we describe it as a land-class entry that signals hill or rocky land, not as a legal test. The entry does not itself say whether the land is under PLPA, nor whether it is forest. Equally, a plot without this entry may still be under a section 4 or 5 order. The legal test is the notification, not the label. Read our line-by-line jamabandi guide.
How to check a specific khasra
- Get the jamabandi and note the land class for the khasra.
- Ask the District Forest Officer (DFO), in writing, whether the village or khasra is under a PLPA section 3, 4 or 5 notification, and for the notification number and date.
- Ask for a no-forest certificate for the khasra.
- Match the plot against the Natural Conservation Zone in the development plan: Gurugram plan and Faridabad plan.
- Ask whether any building on or near the plot has a sanctioned plan. The 2025 demolitions reported by the press targeted unauthorised structures.
- Check for forest, wildlife or eco-sensitive overlays. See eco-sensitive zones.
- Do not pay on the basis of an assurance that the land is "Aravalli but not forest" until the Court rules. Get a written legal opinion.
A rule of thumb
The notification beats the brochure
Ask for the notification number and date. If the seller cannot produce one for the khasra, ask the DFO directly. A verbal assurance or a coloured map is not a defence if the land is under a section 4 order.
