Gomala Land

Also known as: gomal, grazing land

Gomala is government land set aside for common grazing, and it cannot be privately owned or sold unless lawfully granted and the grant conditions are satisfied.

Encroachment on Gomala followed by a regularisation application - and sometimes by an RTC entry obtained on that application - is a recurring pattern in peri-urban Karnataka. An RTC naming a private holder is not, by itself, evidence that Gomala was validly granted. Diligence has to locate the grant order and confirm the conditions attaching to it, since unauthorised occupation remains liable to eviction however long it has continued.

What it does not prove

An RTC entry over Gomala land does not establish that the land was validly granted or is transferable.

Applies in

Karnataka