Tribal land transfer in Chhattisgarh: Section 165

Section 165 sits above the record stack because it can void what the registers show. A B-1 may name a willing seller, the P-II and Girdawari may reconcile, and the deal may still be unlawful, because where the Bhumiswami belongs to a declared aboriginal tribe the Land Revenue Code restricts to whom the land may pass. Reading the registers without asking whether the holder is a tribal Bhumiswami is to check everything except the thing that can undo the sale.

The restriction has two levels. In areas notified as predominantly inhabited by aboriginal tribes, the land is not transferable to a non-tribal at all, and no permission cures that. In other areas, a transfer to a non-tribal is possible only with the prior written permission of the Collector or Sub-Divisional Officer, and where the land is to be put to non-agricultural use the diversion permission under Section 172 must be obtained first. Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule carry the tightest protection.

The consequences of a breach are severe and lasting. A transfer made in contravention of Section 165 is void, the burden of showing a transfer was not spurious or benami lies on the person claiming it valid, and Section 170B allows land taken from tribal holders to be restored, with a transferee in possession required to give it back. Years of occupation do not cure the defect. These provisions are technical and periodically amended, so check how they fall for the specific parcel, the parties and where the land lies.

The holder's category and the area decide the route; read both before you treat the land as available.

Placing the transfer

Then, and only then

The holder's category and where the land sits decide the route. Where either is unclear, work on the footing that the land is restricted until it is confirmed otherwise.

Four ways a Chhattisgarh tribal-land deal goes wrong.

What buyers find hardest to accept is that neither the passage of years nor sitting on the land repairs a Section 165 breach. A tribal-land transfer made against the section is void; anyone asserting such a transfer is valid must prove it was not spurious; and Section 170B lets the land be returned to the tribal holder, with a transferee in occupation put out. A stamped deed, money handed over, long possession, none of these builds a title the Land Revenue Code refuses to recognise. So run the Section 165 check as the gate that stands above the stack, not a closing formality. Settle the holder's category and the location before you lean on any register, and where a transfer is open at all, require the Collector's or Sub-Divisional Officer's written permission in hand before a deed is signed or a rupee changes hands. None of this is legal advice; on any tribal-land deal, confirm the rules and the route with the Tehsil, the Collector and a lawyer who knows the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code.