Land Management Minister Pratibha Rawal says landless families should get ownership certificates as a right, not as a political promise. She said it on Monday, October 26, 2026, in a meeting with residents at Ganeshsthan in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-11, Chitwan.
Rawal urged local governments and land-problem resolution committees to speed up giving out the lalpurja, the official land ownership certificate. She said the government had removed policy barriers through an ordinance and that the job left was to get local bodies to finish. She acknowledged that long delays had caused hardship and promised to visit every local level in Chitwan to hear complaints and talk to the officials responsible.
How big is the backlog?
- June 2026: Rawal told Parliament that about 1.2 million applications had come in from landless people and squatters over roughly three decades, and only about 9,000 certificates had been issued.
- July: The ministry reported 29 households received certificates in the government’s first 100 days, starting with a handover in Bardiya on July 2.
- October 5: Prime Minister Balendra Shah said 1,311,197 applications had been entered into an integrated system for verification and 5,737 families had received certificates. He set a goal of resolving the problem in 1,000 days.
What has changed
- May 5: The government abolished the Land Problem Settlement Commission by ordinance and moved to committees or task forces.
- June 16: The ministry approved a procedure for collecting records of landless Dalits, landless squatters and unmanaged settlers, with stronger documents, digital records and eligibility checks.
- August 22: In Kailali, Rawal promised money and staff within a 600-day target.
- October 13: Law Minister Sobita Gautam explained amended land and forest provisions.
Who qualifies
Landless Dalits, landless squatters, and unmanaged or informal settlers living on government, public or forest land. Authorities check each case. The June procedure asks for proof of economic status, such as poverty identity cards, bank statements, share-trading records, vehicle ownership, PAN or VAT registration and business records. For unmanaged settlers, occupation must predate February 11, 2010. That does not mean everyone living there before then qualifies.
The October law explanation says some plots occupied and farmed before that date but recorded as forest could be remapped once. They would first be registered in the government’s name, then verified claim by claim. Eligible families could get some farmland by paying 7% of the minimum valuation, and residential land by paying 12%. However, not all landless families pay, or that all get land free. Families in risky places, such as riverbanks or road corridors, may be moved to safer land.
Why it has taken so long
Land records are patchy and sometimes conflict. Authorities must tell real claimants from duplicates and plots that are already allocated. Boundaries have to be surveyed. Three levels of government must cooperate, and Rawal warned in August that weak cooperation could block the process.
Concerns about evictions
The prime minister says earlier commissions spent more than Rs 2 billion since 2020 with little result. Land-rights activists and groups including Amnesty International Nepal have called for protections against forced eviction, due process and resettlement. On May 8, the Supreme Court issued an interim order in the Kathmandu Valley clearance case telling authorities not to forcibly evict landless and unmanaged settlers without following legal procedure.
What happens next
A fair test would be a public dashboard showing applications entered, verified, rejected, surveyed, approved and issued as registered certificates, split by district and by farm or residential land. The ministry should also be asked how many extra staff are coming and where, what budget is set aside, and why the totals differ. Households in Chitwan can be asked how long they have lived on their land, what they have filed and whether they face relocation.
