The Expert Group on Land Leasing set up by NITI Aayog under the chairmanship of Dr. T. Haque, former Chairman; CACP held a national level consultation on the subject on 8th January, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. About 70 people from revenue departments of the states, experts and academicia, representatives of the farmers organisations and non-governmental organisations and NABARD participated in consultation. The consultation was held to seek the suggestions of diverse stakeholders for preparing a model land leasing law. All the organizations and individuals unanimously supported for a model law which should facilitate the tenant but at the same time protect the land owner’s right on his land. It has also been a majority opinion that the model should be restricted to only agriculture and should not encourage corporate farming. The advance communication and space technology should be leveraged to take care of many land related issues. The need for some form of written documentation of the lease agreement which could be recognised by the banking and credit institutions and honoured by the States in extending of the relief to tenant or lessee in case of natural calamities was also appreciated by all the organizations and individuals. The model act should also explicitly provide the provision for dispute reddressal mechanism.

Land leasing model law to protect tenant rights while preserving landowner interests and enabling bank-recognized leases. A model law on land leasing should facilitate tenant rights while preserving landowner proprietary interests, be confined to agriculture and discourage corporate farming. It should require written lease documentation recognised by banks and usable by States for extending relief to tenants after natural calamities, leverage advanced communication and space technologies for land issues, and explicitly provide a dispute redressal mechanism.