102. Agricultural Land Inherited by

OCI

Q. Hello and good afternoon. I am an Indian born and educated person and currently hold Non Indian passport as well as OCI. I have some agriculture land (in Rajasthan) inherited from my Father/grand-father along with my uncles and brothers. For the purpose of consolidating all our shares from different locations to one location we would like to do some land transfer between brother as well as some with uncle. Being an OCI am I allowed to do such a transfer. If yes is there any government authority I can contact for further information. There may be difference in land (area) switch based on value of different fields and may be a need for small money exchange to balance the transfers. Thanks in advance. M S Dhaliwal A. Assuming that your brothers and uncles are Indian citizens, the following scenarios come to mind: You could transfer some/part of your land to them and receive money for it. This would be fine, as agricultural land in India, acquired by foreigners, by way of inheritance can only be sold to Indian citizens. Using the analogy of #1 as an OCI holder you cannot buy agricultural land. Even though you can acquire it by inheritance you cannot buy agricultural land because of your foreign citizenship. So if you were to pay money to your relatives to acquire agricultural land from them; then the question of legality arises as OCI holders cannot purchase agricultural land. There may be an option to work out an agreement of some sort between all your relatives on the division of the inherited agricultural lands. For this, you should seek guidance from a qualified lawyer. I believe the office of the Sub-Registrar or the office of the Tehsildar, in whose jurisdiction the property is located are the ones who can provide you with information on land transfers.