The Gujarat Legislative Assembly on 10 September passed the Gujarat Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, 2026, without opposition. The law lets revenue officials record and certify a mutation entry on the same day a registered sale deed is executed, provided the transaction clears three tests. Revenue Minister Rushikesh Patel moved the bill, and Congress and AAP members backed it, ThePrint reported.
Buyers have been working under this rule for months already. Governor Acharya Devvrat signed an ordinance with the same text on 30 March, and the Government Gazette notification put it into force at once. An ordinance lapses if the legislature does not replace it, so this week’s vote gives the change a permanent footing, as DeshGujarat noted.
What changed in Section 135D
A mutation entry updates the record of rights, the 7/12 extract most Gujarat landowners know, after land changes hands. Under Section 135D of the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879, the designated revenue officer had to notify every person named in the records, plus anyone else with a likely interest, and then wait for objections before certifying. The notice period ran to 30 days.
The amended section skips the notice for a registered sale deed when:
- no change has been recorded against the land for at least a year before the deed, leaving out changes from government schemes or consolidation;
- every person named in the record of rights has signed the deed; and
- no dispute over the land is pending before any authority, court or tribunal.
Entries flowing from a court, tribunal or competent authority’s order get certified on receipt, also without notice. For sales that miss any of the three tests, such as a sale signed through a power of attorney or one with a co-owner’s signature missing, the objection window drops from 30 days to seven, according to the state’s April announcement of the ordinance.
Why the government moved
The ordinance’s own statement of reasons says some people raised “mala fide” objections to hold up lawful sales. When he announced it in April, the minister went further and said people had used frivolous objections to extract money from buyers. Farmers and flat buyers alike had to make repeat trips to revenue offices while an objection sat unresolved.
A Gujarat High Court judgment from March shows how long these fights can run. In Babubhai Ishwarbhai Patel v. State of Gujarat, a mutation for land in Kukvav village, Ahmedabad district, had been certified in 2007-08 and later cancelled over a missing co-sharer’s consent and a bank loan entry. Justice Divyesh A. Joshi restored the entry in March 2026, holding that revenue officers must mutate records that rest on registered documents, LiveLaw reported. That case involved a power of attorney sale and an absent co-owner signature, so under the new law it would still go through the slower seven-day track.
What it means if you are buying or selling land
Only sales with clean paperwork get the fast lane. Before paying, a buyer can check the 7/12 extract and the mutation register for any entry in the past twelve months. A fresh inheritance, a new loan charge or a partition entry would push the sale out of same-day certification.
Joint family holdings pose the biggest practical hurdle. If eight siblings and cousins appear on the 7/12, all eight must sign the sale deed. One relative abroad who signs through a power of attorney is enough to trigger the notice route.
Sellers and buyers should also keep a basic legal point in mind. Courts have long held that a mutation entry records who pays land revenue; it does not settle ownership on its own. A relative who was left off the records and missed the chance to object before certification can still challenge the sale in a revenue appeal or a civil suit. The new law removes a waiting period and leaves those remedies in place.
What to watch
The ordinance also proposed rewriting sub-rule (4A) of rule 107 of the Gujarat Land Revenue Rules, 1972, which sets objection timelines for specific categories of entries. Those rules, and any data the Revenue Department releases on how many entries now clear on the same day, will show whether the change reaches farmers in villages or mostly speeds up urban property deals. The bill now needs the Governor’s assent to become an Act.
Sources: ThePrint, DeshGujarat, Gujarat Government Gazette (via PRS), LiveLaw
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.