Grama natham land -tamilnadu advise

Grama Natham may also be termed as Natham lands. These terms have been used since a very long time which includes the pre-independence period.

In Grama Natham, the first occupier of the land is considered as the rightful owner and generally no Patta is issued to him/her. However it is still possible to apply for Patta when owning a Grama Natham land. Pooramboke land are often compared with Grama Natham. Any piece of land can be classified either as Privately owned Patta land, Government Poramboke land or Grama Natham land.

Private Patta lands are under the revenue records and hence can be considered to be much easier to own and transact. This has been the prime reason for higher cost of Patta lands although Grama Natham can also be used for building a house. Purchasing a Grama Natham land can always be a risky investment although legally one can build a house on a Grama Natham land while enjoying the benefits of lower initial cost. These Grama Natham lands may be less liquid when compared to Patta lands as there are fewer buyers for Grama Natham properties. If a Grama Natham property is owned by an individual, applying for Patta is still feasible but is not easy to obtain. It might be important to apply for Patta when owning a Grama Natham land as it might act as a positive attribute where litigations are involved.

It is vital to note that Grama Natham land can never be used for commercial activities. These lands are house sites and must be actively used by the land owner.

'Buyer Beware' applies to property deals.

It shall be appropriate to get proper legal opinion from a very able local senior counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in revenue/property/civil matters and well versed with local rules/laws and process/procedures for said Grama Natham lands , before signing or making payment.

This may cost some FEE but can defend long term interest and hard earned monies.

Generically speaking: One should stay away as much as possible from such property deals.

No, in respect of Land Acquisition Act 1984, the compensation will be paid to them underthe head "Person Interested"..

Prefer to proceed under expert advise of local counsel.

thanks for the clarification - just for some additional clarity -

1. say someone doesnt have any docs created for gramanatham land and been enjoying it for 50+yrs with no docs as such and in the interim it gets passed to the legal heirs who continue to reside and enjoy it but when it comes to partition suit, how will the parent docs be created and under whose name will it be if the original ancestor had passed away decades back. will there a parent doc  created for each of the partition of the legal heir and a survey number assigned to each of them?

As mentioned earlier,the seller n my case had stated he had done all the settlement to the legal heirs . but i want to cross check it with the above clarifcation.

2. will govt still acknoweldge it as the land of legal heirs ,if they want to partition and register it separately, if all they had is the property tax receitps and possbilye EB and water bills from their enjoyment of ancestors? the sellers is a HINDU family.

If there was no owner on record (title holder) then how can succession set in?

There seems to be NO declaration of title.

Start from mother document say; Shajra-e-Aks.

It is reiterated that one should stay away as much as possible from such properties.

@kumar.
that is usually common especially in states like tamilnadu that often goes through some land regularization schemes.
people tend to enjoy their ancestor land for decades by just paying property tax, eb and water bill  on their ancestral grama natham@kumar. title can still be created by showing these receipts and the process is simple if it is a single owner. had assited a client n this but the process was little lengthy.
real challenge is,when it comes to multiple legal hiers involved, this gets even complicated in getting the title record with consent from everyone(n the name of settlement) and proving the family lineage, but it is still doable and is upto the buyers's risk to go through this . although it says risk,but these kind of transactions do happen in common in town panchayat juridisctions  as grama natham was not considered strictly as govt lands unlike natham porambokku, odai maduvu, etc etc.

Thanks for sharing Mr.KK.

It is qurists call.

Qurist may approach with case file a very able local senior counsel of unshakable repute and integrity specializing in revenue/civil matters for a considered opinion.

Hello Azhagananth,

Can you please explain whether the gramanatham land could be sold out in UDS?  Please call us on 9003108889. And we need your assistance to file a petition on Highcourt.  I gave you a all today morning and discussed this with you.

I saw this article in hindu details the gramanatham land can't be used for commercial purpose (UDS)

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/high-court-directs-officials-to-protect-gramanatham-lands/article2121200.ece