In a landmark decision for providing equal rights in the property to daughters, the Himachal Pradesh government has carried out an amendment to 51-year-old legislation, ‘Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings Act of 1972.’
As per the amendment, the adult daughter (married and unmarried) will be permitted to have a separate independent unit of up to 150 bighas of land.
The state government has rectified the error by inserting the words, “or daughter” after the word “son” in sub-section 4 of section 4 of the existing Act.
The Bill includes the daughter at par with the son as a separate independent unit.
Earlier, the Act allowed an adult son to have an additional 150 bighas of land while denying the same right to an adult daughter. As a result, families with an adult daughter will have the same land rights as those with adult sons, totaling up to 300 bighas of land.
The Bill the ‘Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2023 which was introduced in the State Assembly on 29 March 2023 by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and passed on 3 April 2023, aims to ensure gender equality, for both son and daughter when it comes to own an independent unit.
The Bill paves the way to remove gender discrimination in line with the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
“By making the necessary amendment, the state government is providing succour to lakhs of families in the state having daughters. This amendment aims to ensure that families with daughters have equal rights in land ownership, removing the unconstitutional clause that promotes gender inequality,” the Chief Minister said.
Amendment in the Act is aimed to provide relief to lakhs of families in the state having daughters, as it would enable their daughter to have an additional unit of 150 bighas of land. The move has been widely welcomed by all sections of society as a positive step towards empowering women in the state.