How to Buy Tribal Land in India?

I myself am a law student and love studying about cases or topics that crop up in newspapers, online platforms or even on google. I saw several people questioning

how to buy tribal land in India and whether it is even possible or not and honestly the research on this was quite interesting for me. There are certain things that need to be focused upon before buying land from scheduled tribe and those must not be overlooked. If you want to know all the details about it, let me share what I got to learn about it here.

How to buy scheduled tribe land?

It is actually a very tricky question and no one knows the answer properly. For buying tribal land one will need to get the allotment letter and other documents related with the property and its owner and need to fulfill the conditions as required. You can see the scheme that needs to be followed to buy it. If you are unable to get it, simply visit the sub-registrar’s office and provide the owner name and property details to know what things need to be followed. 

Do understand that whatever you do, just seek permission from the Commissioner and try to get the grant certificate as soon as possible. This certificate will provide you with all the details and conditions. Get them checked at the registrar’ office to be double sure and then only proceed to buy it. However you can get into trouble as such lands often have 

• Fake Mutation Certificates

• Fake RTCs or Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops

• Fake Grant Certificates

It is thus advisable not to buy such properties as you may face legal issues in the future

This is all I can say to answer the question:

how to buy tribal land in India

I can tell you all that I know about buying land from Scheduled Tribes in Karnataka. My friend belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community and his family owns many plots. He once explained about buying ST/SC land to me.

Can You Buy Property on Tribal Land in Karnataka?

The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was introduced by the state's new Congress government. 

• The purpose of this measure is to eliminate the deadline for members of SC/ST groups to assert ownership of state-allocated land that has been unlawfully taken over by other parties.

• The goal of the amendment is to stop more affluent people or organisations from taking advantage of the "ignorance and poverty" of SC/ST recipients.

So, to answer your question “can I buy tribal land?”, I would say

If the property is taken over illegally, it is deemed unlawful;

1. Without the approval of the victim, by intimidating them or someone related to them, or by producing fraudulent records.

2. Illegally depriving an SC/ST member of his land or preventing him from enjoying his rights over any land is also a felony. This includes the following:

3. Denying an SC/ST member access to any forest rights under the Forest Rights Act.

4. Taking away rights to any water or irrigation source.

5. Crop destruction or theft.

6. If you use fire or explosives to harm the houses, religious places, and/or property of SC/ST members, you might face a 6- to 7-year prison sentence. 

Such offences can be reported. I hope this explains to you about buying a house on tribal land.