Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Thursday, 23 July announced sweeping reforms to the century-old Mamlatdar Courts Act, 1906, enabling notices in rural land disputes to be served via email and guaranteeing free police protection to farmers when encroachers defy tehsildars' orders. The changes, effective immediately through a joint circular of the Revenue and Home Departments, are designed to eliminate deliberate notice-evasion and accelerate quasi-judicial proceedings across Maharashtra's agricultural belt.

Key Reforms Introduced

A new Section 14-A has been incorporated into the Mamlatdar Courts Act to tackle a long-standing loophole: parties routinely claimed non-receipt of notices or simply avoided service, stalling hearings indefinitely. Under the revised framework, notices for disputes involving agricultural land, farm access roads, rights of way, and obstruction of water channels will now be issued through email in accordance with the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, enabling faster completion of quasi-judicial proceedings.

Additionally, a new Section 21(5) makes it mandatory for police to provide free protection to an affected farmer once a tehsildar issues a removal or prohibitory order that an encroacher refuses to honour. Tehsildars have been directed to include an explicit reference to Section 21(5) in every such order going forward.

What the Government Said

'The state government has introduced major reforms to the Mamlatdar Courts Act to ensure quicker disposal of disputes and effective implementation of orders. Notices for quasi-judicial hearings will now be issued through email, and if an encroacher fails to comply with a tehsildar's order, the affected farmer will be provided free police protection after approaching the police,' Minister Bawankule said.

The Revenue Department's circular confirmed that the reforms were introduced on the instructions of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and on the initiative of Minister Bawankule, specifically to curb obstruction of farm roads, cultivation rights, and water channels in rural areas.

Police Stations Directed Not to Deny Protection

The Home Department has separately instructed all police stations across the state that farmers cannot be denied protection solely because a tehsildar's order inadvertently omits a specific reference to free police protection. This safeguard addresses ground-level implementation gaps where procedural omissions were used as grounds to turn away aggrieved farmers.

The ordinance was issued jointly following recommendations by a committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner of Pune, lending it additional institutional weight.

Background and Significance

The Mamlatdar Courts Act, enacted in 1906, governs summary proceedings for possession and obstruction disputes in rural Maharashtra. Critics and farmers' groups have long pointed to systemic delays in notice service and non-enforcement of orders as the primary reasons why encroachments on farm roads and water channels persist for years. This is among the most substantive amendments to the Act in recent memory, and comes at a time when land-use conflicts in Maharashtra's agrarian districts have been escalating.

With the dual lever of digital notice service and mandatory police cover, the state government is signalling a shift from procedural reform on paper to enforceable outcomes on the ground. How swiftly district administrations adopt the email-service mechanism will be the real test of the reform's reach.