“The Urban Land Ceiling Act will be revisited and examined. In addition, land ceiling provisions under the West Bengal Land Reforms Act will also be revisited and examined,” she said in her Budget speech.

Presenting the Budget, the minister announced extension of the policy for converting leasehold land to freehold across government departments, parastatals, urban local bodies, and rural local bodies.

“The state government has already introduced a policy framework for converting leasehold land into freehold. I am happy to announce that this conversion policy will be extended for all the government departments including parastatals, urban local bodies and rural local bodies. For the convenience of the land allottees and for ensuring transparency a robust online platform will also be launched,” Bhattacharya said.

She further said, “In the past few decades there has been a sea change in the social, economic and industrial development in the country as a whole and in West Bengal in particular. One of the constraints faced by the industry and the business is the ceiling on private ownership of land.” Meanwhile, the Central Government has repealed the Urban Land Ceiling Act (ULCA) and many states have also repealed the Act.

“In this context, the current applicability of the ULCA will be revisited and examined in our State. In addition, Land Ceiling provisions under the West Bengal Land Reforms Act will also be revisited and examined,” she further added.

In 2014, the TMC government had amended West Bengal Land Reforms Bill in which the ambit for exemption was widened.