3.2.

2 Statutory provisions

3.2.2.1 Land Reform Act 2021 BS (1964 AD)

The Land Reform Act 1964 mainly focused on land use, distribution and
regulation. The main objective of this Act was to redistribute land to tenants and
improve agricultural production through new technology and promoting high
yielding crop varieties. The Land Reform Act did not address any issues regarding
women’s access to land but rather entrenched the existing gender discrimination.
One such example of this is that the tenancy rights could be transferred only to the
husband, wife and son, but not to the daughter. The daughter could not get any
tenancy rights from the landlords even if she was unmarried until the fourth
amendment of the Act in 1996.
Subsequent amendment of the act in 2002, as well as amendment in 2006 after the
introduction of the Gender Equality Act 2006 recognized women’s equal rights to
inheritance. As per the amendment in 2006, the word “daughter” has been inserted
after the word “son” appearing in sub-clause (2) under the definition of a “family.”
Similarly, the words “husband, wife, son, mother, father, adopted son, unmarried
daughter having attained the age of 35 years, daughter-in-law, grandson,
granddaughter-in-law or elder or younger brothers living in the same family” that
appeared in subsection 1 of Section 26 on “Rights and Obligations of tenant” have
been substituted by the words “husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father,
adopted son, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, grandson, granddaughter,
granddaughter-in-law, elder or younger brothers or elder or younger sisters living
in the same family.” Through the amendment, therefore, the Act secured equal
tenancy rights for wives, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law and
sisters of the family in comparison with other male family members.

3.2.2.2 Financial Bill 2072 BS (2015/16 AD)

According to the Financial Bill 2072 BS, the following provisions are included to
promote women’s ownership of land and property:
• The Government is promoting joint registration of land rights in the names of
husband and wife and co-ownership (joint) certificate can be obtained with a
 minimum registration fee of NPR 100 (less than USD 1). An individual
ownership which was previously registered either in the name of wife or
husband can also be transferred into joint ownership certificate with a fee of
NPR 100.
• Senior citizens, both men and women above 70 years can register the land in
their name and receive 25 per cent tax exemption in land registration.
• A single woman – more specifically – a woman with a deceased husband
receives 35 per cent tax exemption in land registration.
• When transferring the land within three generations of daughter or
granddaughter, 50 per cent tax is exempted in land registration.
• Dependent family member such as a husband, wife, son, daughter, father or
mother of a martyr who lost his or her life during People's Movement I, II and
Madhes Movement need not to pay any tax for land registration.

3.2.2.3 Gender Equality Act 2006

The Gender Equality Act 2006 repealed and amended 56 discriminatory provisions
and removed gender inequalities perpetuated by several previous acts and also
incorporated provisions to ensure women’s rights. The Act amended a number of
gender-discriminatory clauses of the Muluki Ain, including the provision that a
daughter is required to return shared property upon marriage. Article 2(5) of the
Act states: “an unmarried girl, a married woman, or a widow living separately may
enjoy movable or immovable property on her own.” Similarly, it also amended the
provision for summons issued by the court to be received by a male family
member as far as possible and the provision for divorce in the case of not having
children within 10 years of marriage. Furthermore, the Act establishes sexual
violence as a crime punishable by varying years of imprisonment, depending on
the age of the victim.
3.2.2.4 Civil Code Bill 2074

 It allows women the right to use her father’s surname, the surname of her
mother or husband or both surnames
 It has a provision for court appointed curator for a child who has no guardian
to take his/her care
 It has a provision for usufruct, whereby a person can give his/her property to
somebody who can use it as his/her own property but cannot change the
substance of the property without the consent of the owner of the property
 It incorporates provisions of unjust enrichment. The question of unjust
enrichment arises when a person unfairly gets a benefit by chance, mistake
or other such causes for which the person enriched has not paid or worked.
The beneficiary should return such money or benefits to the person who
deserves it. According to the bill, a person will be held responsible if due to
omission, commission or recklessness another person suffers harm or loss.
For example, the owner of an animal will be held responsible if the animal
inflicts harm to others

3.2.2.5 National womens commission act 2063

This act is designed to make provisions for the national womens commissions. It
acts as a guideline for the activities of the organization. It has laid down that the
commission work for the establishment of equality through the end of gender
based discrimination of all forms.