Digitalization of Land Records

What needed no explanation is the need for the digitalization of land records. For around 70% of the people in India, land/property is the primary asset and for the majority of them, it is the main source of income. For state governments revenue through registration and stamp duty comprises a considerable amount of share and it is critical to ensure it has exact information about the ownership. For the owners, it is critical to hold the clear title for mortgaging, or to lease or to make any benefit out of it. For a progressive country with lots of infrastructure and industrial projects in the pipeline, it is essential to ensure that the land acquisition processes do not affect the project duration. Unfortunately, this all prevails because land titles are presumptive. Land disputes are everywhere. Two third of pending cases are related to property disputes. As per Niti Aayog, it takes 20 years on average to settle disputes related to land.

In India, The ownership is established through sale deed by registering the transaction. The registration validates the transaction, but it does not guarantee ownership. The registration does not help the buyer to validate the rightful ownership and the onus on verification is on the buyer and the it can be challenged. Registration of property is not mandatory for all transactions. These include acquisition of land by the government, court decrees, land orders, heirship partitions, and property that is leased for less than one year and there is a lot of scope for litigation here.

And when it comes to land records, several departments comes into the play. Different documents are maintained different departments and these departments work in silos.

We have Revenue Department which maintains RoR, Mutation Register, We have Registration department which maintains sale deed and maps are maintained by the survey department and data across departments is not updated properly.

This plagued the growth of the country in every possible way and signified the need for the digitalization of land records.

For modernization of land records system in the country, a modified programme, the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP) a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, was formulated by merging two centrally-sponsored schemes of Computerization of Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) and was approved by the Cabinet on 2008.

The NLRMP, has since been revamped as the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) by the NDA government as a Central Sector Scheme with cent percent Central funding in 2016.

The objective of the programme is to streamline and reduce the scope of land and property disputes, thereby improving transparency in the maintenance of land records. The main aim of the programme was to computerize all land records, digitize maps, upgrade the survey and settlement records and sustain the same. Digitization of land records was introduced to computerize all land records including mutations, improve transparency in the land records maintenance system, digitize maps and survey, update all settlement records and minimize the scope of land disputes. This would provide clear titles of land ownership that could be monitored easily by government officials, facilitate quicker transactions, and reduce disputes.

DILRMP intends to move from the existing system of presumptive titles to conclusive and state-guaranteed titles. The proposed conclusive title system is based on four basic principles:

• A single window to handle land records (including the maintenance and updating of textual records, maps, survey and settlement operations and registration of immovable property),
• The ―”mirror” principle, which refers to the fact that cadastral records mirror the ground reality,
• The ―”curtain” principle which indicates that the record of title is a true depiction of the ownership status, mutation is automated and automatic following registration and the reference to past records is not necessary, and
• Title insurance, which guarantees the title for its correctness and indemnifies the title holder against loss arising on account of any defect therein.

The programme now has been extended to 2021 at a total cost of Rs. 950 crores. Substantial progress has been achieved in the prime components of computerization.

As on Feb 21,

• Computerization of Record of Rights achieved more than 90% in 24 States/UT
• Digitization of cadastral maps achieved more than 90% in 22 States/UTs,
• Computerization of Registration acheived more than 90% in 27 States/UTs,
• Connectivity between Sub-Registrar Offices and Tehsils, integration of Registration and Land Records achieved more than 90% in 20 States/UTs.

The department has undertaken two other initiatives namely NGDRS – one Nation one software initiative for registration of documents & properties and ULPIN – Alphanumerical ID for each land parcel based on Geo reference coordinates to ensure uniqueness and to link all property-related transactions.

Despite the substantial progress of the programme, moving from the existing system of presumptive titles to conclusive titles has its own challenges. It requires lots of resources for the state government to implement, but once carried out, it’s easier for the state governments to attract investments, implement complex infrastructure projects and the list goes on.

One last thing, The government of Andhra Pradesh recently announced that it will adopt blockchain technology to end land record tampering. Experts believe that blockchain could be the perfect technology for land record due to its immutability, timestamp and no single point of failure characteristics.

Will India adopt blockchain technology to manage it’s land? It surely will. But, it has to be done at the right time to boost the ease of doing business.