Q.879 ED notice to confiscate

agricultural land purchased by NRI

in India

Hi, I am a NRI since 20yrs, my roots are from agriculturist family since 60 to 70years. ‎Since I lost my dad when I was 18yrs old I flew to Dubai and found a job and now I am having business here, but once my dad expired my grand parents thrown us out of the house, and sold the agriculture property to some politician and we could not fight against them, by loosing my dad, and loosing the agriculture income my mom (40yrs) went on depression called BMD (bipolar Mood disorder) we treated her with many doctors, after 14yrs of treatment in 2010 finally a Doctor counselled her and came to conclusion that she needs some activities which she used to do before her illness, then I finalised she wants some agriculture activity like cattle, farm and etc, but in mangalore the property rates were very high and my saving was very little and most of my savings were utilised for her medication I couldn't able to find cheap land, but in 2013 I my younger brother who looking after her in India found a agriculture land for cheap price so I arranged my hard earned fund and transferred to India, it was all set to registrar in my moms name, but on registration day she was very ill and couldn't come for registration, but the sellers were assembled in register office they all were above 80yrs old, and they were 7members, infact we had paid full money so in a panic situation my brother couldn't reach me over the phone, since I work in offshore, unavoidable circumstances he used my GPA and registered the property in my name. Later I came to its dry land and no water source we could not do agriculture there so I travelled few countries to study preserving the rain water, mean time I got a commercially converted property near to that where water source is very good but nobody showed interest to do agriculture it was a abandoned property, I bought it in 2013 and invested arround 15lachs to make worth for agriculture and since 2yrs my mom and brother doing agriculture of paddy,coconut,arracnut, pepper, vegetables, goat farming etc since then my mothers medication is minimised and she's surviving with her income she's 65yrs now. But in 2016 ED sent notice saying it's illegal to keep the agriculture land in my name. Now I am confused. 1. Is it mistake earning in Dubai and sending money to India to do agriculture. 2. Is it mistake of taking care of my mother by working hard in Dubai and giving what she wants. 3. Is it a mistake doing agriculture and flourishing India. 4. We NRI work hard here, we save and when we come back to India we don't have any income we have to depend only on agriculture. 5. I know there is a law but, the is made for those who buy agriculture land and convert and sell and kill agriculture, but in my case I am giving birth to agriculture. I bet I will not sell this land for coming 10yrs. 6. In reality I have invested lot of money for well water, landscaping, goat shelter, cattle shelter, tree plantation so there is no respect for my good work? 7. What ever I have earned and whatever my savings all I sent to India just for mother health sake for doing agriculture. 8. We are not taking a single govt subsidy for agriculture everything I invested my hard earned income from Dubai, that means am I doing mistake? I never took subsidy loan. 9. Today they sent notice saying they have the right to confiscate my land, that means they are killing farmers right..? 10. I have record everyday we produce milk to govt dairy appox 25ltrs. Since 2yrs we produce 6000kgs of rice, 1500kgs of coconuts, 300kgs of arracnut, 50kgsof pepper, 150kgs of cashews, and fresh vegetables we produce. Please give me the answer to save my land from ED and keep my mother's health in good condition. dyani paul [May 09, 2016] Answer: Enforcement Directorate (ED) when they become aware that a violation has occurred, do send out notices to violators of rules and regulations. Generally the notice will quote the section of the law that they consider has been violated. Where such violations include property purchases, their notice may ask violators to show cause as to why the concerned property should not be confiscated! So rest assured, the threat of confiscation was not exclusively meant for you! it’s a standard clause on such show cause notices. The Enforcement Directorate officer’s jobs are to ensure compliance of Indian laws. My suggestion to you or other NRIs who may find themselves in such situations is to comply with the show cause notices as soon as possible. Contact the appropriate ED office, explain the circumstances under which the agricultural land was registered in your name and transfer the land to your mother’s name. You may be assessed some penalties but perhaps your land will not be confiscated. The job of ED officials is to enforce the law. The only way to sort such issues is to contact them and rectify the matter. How does Enforcement Directorate find out that NRI has purchased agricultural land illegally? I believe the ED does not have a specific procedure or crystal ball to find violators! Generally they are notified of violations, they investigate and take action. Who notifies them? Perhaps the violator’s friends or family members who may have a score to settle. It could also be the property broker or previous agricultural land owner who sold you the property! So the lesson is, since it’s illegal, just don’t buy it.