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Agricultural Land Rules in Maharashtra (2026)
What we could confirm about the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, section 63 and the 2016 and 2018 amendments, and what buyers must verify.
Maharashtra's rules on who may buy agricultural land rest on the Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, and have been amended in 2016 and 2018. This page reports only what the amending Acts show and marks every gap.
Maharashtra's tenancy law and its buyer restrictions
Maharashtra shares a legal root with Gujarat. Both inherit the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, which Maharashtra keeps under the name of the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act. Buyers often hear that a non-farmer cannot buy agricultural land in Maharashtra, and that section 63 of this Act is the reason. The truth is more detailed, and it has changed through amendments in 2016 and 2018.
This page reports what we could confirm from the amending Acts and what we could not. We did not open the full text of section 63. See who can own farmland in India and can a non-farmer buy agricultural land for national context.
The Act and its recorded amendments
A copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research shows the Act as The Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (Act 67 of 1948), and notes that the amending Acts call it the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act. The header of that document lists the amendments by Act number, among them 39 of 1964, 42 of 1967, 49 of 1969, 5 of 2006, 1 of 2014, 1 of 2016, 20 of 2016 and 56 of 2018.
The file mostly reproduces the amending Acts, not the full consolidated text of the principal Act. It carries a disclaimer that the authoritative text should be checked against the gazette or the relevant state department. That is the right way to read everything on this page.
Section 63 and the 2016 amendment
Section 63 is the provision most often cited when people talk about a bar on non-agriculturists buying agricultural land. We did not read its base text. What we could read is that Maharashtra Act No. I of 2016, first published on 1 January 2016, inserted a sub-section (1C) into section 63. The words visible to us say that nothing in sub-section (1) shall apply to land situated in certain areas, and the sentence continues with exclusions linked to municipal and planning areas. We could not read the full list.
The takeaway is that the Act contains exclusions based on where the land lies, so the rule can differ between land inside a municipal or planning area and land in a rural area. A buyer cannot answer the question from the Act's name alone. Ask your advocate to read section 63 and its sub-sections as amended, and to apply them to the specific survey number.
Location decides which rule applies
Do not rely on someone telling you that the whole state bars non-farmers or allows them. The 2016 amendment shows that where the land is, in relation to municipal and planning areas, can change the outcome.
Section 63-1A and industrial and planning conditions
The same file shows that section 63-1A was substituted in 2016. The visible text of clause (1)(b) refers to the agricultural zone of a draft or final Regional Plan, and the clause continues with an industrial-use condition. A proviso in sub-section (2)(b) says that a purchaser who fails to deposit an amount within one month faces a consequence. Maharashtra Act No. LVI of 2018, first published on 13 August 2018 and deemed in force from 1 January 2016, replaced one month with ninety days in this sub-section.
We do not know from our reading what the amount is, who receives it, or what the consequence is. We mention it because it shows that the section can carry a payment obligation and a deadline for a purchaser, and that the deadline was changed after the original amendment. If anyone tells you the period without citing the Act as amended, ask for the text.
Validation and the 2016 second amendment
Maharashtra Act No. XX of 2016, first published on 7 May 2016, added validation provisions, for example in section 84C(6), according to the same file. Validation clauses are typically used to protect transactions made under an earlier understanding of the law. We did not read them, so we cannot say which transactions they protect.
The existence of two amendments within a year, and a third in 2018 that operates from an earlier date, tells you the law has been moving. A broker's summary from a few years ago may be out of date.
Other regional Acts
A search of India Code also lists The Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act. We saw it only as a title in a result. We could not confirm how the Vidarbha Act relates to the 1948 Act for a given village, or the rules for Marathwada. A buyer in any of these regions should ask which Act applies to the village and read that Act.
Buyer checklist for Maharashtra farmland
- Get the 7/12 extract (satbara) and 8A for the survey number. We could not confirm the current online portal details, so check with the talathi office.
- Ask whether the land lies inside a municipal or planning area, a regional plan agricultural zone, or an industrial zone. Section 63 exceptions seen in the amendments depend on this.
- Ask an advocate to read section 63, 63-1A and the 2016 and 2018 amendments, and give you a written opinion for the specific land and for your status as buyer.
- If a deposit or payment to the government is required, find out the amount, the payee and the deadline in writing.
- Check for tenants. The Act is a tenancy law, and a tenant's rights may be recorded in the other-rights column.
- Run the land due diligence checklist and how to verify land title.
- For farmhouse plans, read farmhouse rules in India and land use zones explained.
What we could not confirm
We could not read the base text of section 63, the definition of agriculturist, section 43 or section 63A. We could not confirm the current consolidated text after the 2018 amendment, any amendments since, the amounts and consequences in section 63-1A(2), the position in Vidarbha and Marathwada, ceiling limits, or stamp duty. We list these so that you can ask for them. Compare states in state-wise agricultural land purchase rules and land ceiling limits by state.
