Yogi cabinet clears law in favour of transgenders, law permits inheritance of ancestral agricultural land in UP

Transgenders Uttar Pradesh can now inherit ancestral agricultural land under a new law that has come into force after the Yogi Adityanath cabinet cleared an amendment to the UP Revenue Code of 2006, removing the limitations of nomenclature in inheritance laws that only mention “sons”, “daughters”, “married”, “unmarried” and “widow”.

The proposal for a law acknowledging the inheritance rights of the “third gender”, as recognised by the Supreme Court, had been submitted by the State Law Commission to Adityanath in March 2019. Commission chairperson Justice AN Mittal had pointed out that all inheritance laws leave out the third gender, who as it face social ostracism despite measures to protect them.

In the UP Revenue Code (Amendment) Act, 2020, changes have been made to sections 4(10), 108 (2), 109 and 110 to include people of the third gender as members of a landowner’s family to give them succession and physical rights to the property. This will also accord equal rights and social recognition to the community, the cabinet note says.

Among other changes made to the code are amendments to section 59 (4), in which unreserved land can be earmarked for community use, such as a playground, grazing pasture and cremation ground. The remaining land can be returned to the gram sabha. Under the same section, another amendment makes it possible to denotify previously acquired land.

Under section 60 (2), a provision has been inserted for creation of temporary tin sheds on grazing grounds for amenities like tubewells and feeding troughs.