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Tamil Nadu · Land Records

Land Use Conversion in Non-Planning Areas

For land in a Tamil Nadu non-planning area, the 2017 Change of Land Use Rules govern permission to develop agricultural land for a non-agricultural purpose. Since the 28 March 2025 amendment, applications are filed online. The Director seeks the District Collector’s prior concurrence for wet land; for dry land, since G.O. Ms. No. 149 (published 3 August 2026), the Director decides after being satisfied with the documents uploaded under Rule 3(2), without an Agriculture Department NOC. These rules do not set the process for notified planning areas.

G.O. Ms. No. 53 (28 March 2025) replaced Rules 3 and 4, deleted Rule 5, and changed Rule 9: after the Director’s prior concurrence, the local authority collects 3% of the guideline value fixed under section 47-AA of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 plus a non-refundable ₹1,000 scrutiny fee per plot. Lands acquired for Industrial Parks under the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997 (Tamil Nadu Act 10 of 1999) are exempt from the land-use conversion charge.

Source: Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 143, G.O. Ms. No. 53, SRO A-6(b)/2025 (28 March 2025); Rule 4(b) later substituted by G.O. Ms. No. 149, SRO A-14(b)/2026 (Gazette Extraordinary No. 338, 3 August 2026)

Cost
After the Director’s prior concurrence: 3% of the guideline value fixed under section 47-AA of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, plus a non-refundable scrutiny fee of ₹1,000 per plot. The statutory conversion-charge exemption covers land acquired for Industrial Parks under the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997.
Processing time
The amended rules set no end-to-end approval deadline and no time limit for the Director’s decision. G.O. Ms. No. 149 (published 3 August 2026) removed the dry-land Agriculture NOC and its auto-generation window, the only express clock in the rules.

How to apply under Tamil Nadu’s non-planning-area land-use rules

Procedure under the 2017 Tamil Nadu rules, as amended in 2025 and 2026, for proposed non-agricultural development of wet or dry agricultural land in a non-planning area.

  1. 1

    Confirm the rules apply

    Confirm that the parcel is in a non-planning area and check whether the revenue record classifies it as wet or dry land. A parcel in a notified planning area follows the applicable planning-area process instead.

  2. 2

    Prepare the category-specific online filing

    For dry land, amended Rule 3 expressly requires an online affidavit excluding poromboke, government, and other land not belonging to the applicant; a self-attested Chitta; and a self-attested Adangal covering the latest three fasli years, including the current fasli year. Follow the portal for its current fields and for wet-land filing requirements.

  3. 3

    Submit through the online portal

    Apply for permission through the online portal provided for this purpose. The 2025 amendment replaced the former Rule 3 local-authority filing process.

  4. 4

    Complete the wet- or dry-land review

    After receiving the online application, the Director obtains the concerned District Collector’s prior concurrence for wet land. For dry land, under Rule 4(b) as substituted by G.O. Ms. No. 149 (dated 31 July 2026, published 3 August 2026), the Director decides on prior concurrence after being satisfied with the documents uploaded under Rule 3(2); there is no longer a Joint Director of Agriculture NOC step.

  5. 5

    Obtain concurrence and pay the prescribed charges

    After the Director’s prior concurrence, the local authority collects 3% of the guideline value fixed under section 47-AA of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 plus the non-refundable ₹1,000 scrutiny fee per plot, then grants permission. The conversion-charge exemption is limited to land acquired for Industrial Parks under the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997.

Red flags to catch before signing

These are the patterns that break deals if missed.

  • The parcel is in a notified planning area — this non-planning-area rule set is not the applicable route.
  • The online filing uses the wrong wet/dry revenue classification or omits the affidavit, Chitta, or three-fasli-year Adangal record expressly required for dry land by amended Rule 3.
  • A dry-land application is assumed to clear automatically after a fixed number of days — G.O. Ms. No. 149 removed the auto-generated Agriculture NOC, and the amended rules set no deadline for the Director’s decision.
  • The 3% charge is budgeted on a broker estimate rather than the statutory guideline value fixed under section 47-AA.
  • An ordinary industrial purchase is treated as exempt — amended Rule 9 limits the conversion-charge exemption to land acquired for Industrial Parks under the specified 1997 Act.

When manual stops scaling

Teams handling multiple applications must track whether each parcel is within the non-planning-area rules, its wet/dry review path, the Director’s concurrence, and the local-authority charge. Proquiro keeps that evidence and authority correspondence attached to each parcel.

Common Questions

Land Use Conversion in Non-Planning Areas
FAQ

Do these conversion rules apply throughout Tamil Nadu?

No. The Tamil Nadu Change of Land Use (From Agriculture to Non-agriculture Purposes in Non-planning Areas) Rules, 2017 apply only to non-planning areas.

A parcel in a notified planning area follows the applicable planning-area regime; do not use this page as a general procedure for every parcel in the State.

How do the wet- and dry-land review paths differ?

For wet land, the Director obtains the prior concurrence of the concerned District Collector under Rule 4(a). Tamil Nadu Act No. 14 of 2026 is meant to remove that separate Collector concurrence, but only from a date the Government notifies; no commencement notification appeared in the Gazette Extraordinary issues reviewed up to 3 November 2026.

For dry land, since G.O. Ms. No. 149 (published 3 August 2026), the Director decides on prior concurrence after being satisfied with the documents uploaded under Rule 3(2). The Joint Director of Agriculture NOC introduced in 2025 is no longer in the rule.

How long does the non-planning-area conversion process take?

The amended rules state no end-to-end approval period and no time limit for the Director’s decision.

Their only express clock was the dry-land NOC window for the Joint Director of Agriculture: 30 days under G.O. Ms. No. 53, shortened to 21 days by G.O. Ms. No. 125 (published 5 November 2025), after which the NOC was auto-generated. G.O. Ms. No. 149 (published 3 August 2026) removed that NOC step.

What changed in the 2025 and 2026 amendments?

G.O. Ms. No. 53 (28 March 2025) replaced Rules 3 and 4 with online filing and the wet/dry concurrence paths, and deleted Rule 5.

It also replaced Rule 9 with the guideline-value charge and per-plot scrutiny fee, plus the limited exemption for qualifying Industrial Park acquisitions.

G.O. Ms. No. 125 (published 5 November 2025) shortened the dry-land NOC period to 21 days. G.O. Ms. No. 149 (published 3 August 2026) then replaced Rule 4(b), so the Director decides dry-land concurrence after being satisfied with the uploaded documents, and omitted Rule 7(2). The Director’s checks in Rule 7(1) and power to call for reports in Rule 7(3) remain.

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