The ambitious Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR), which would be launched soon by the Department of Survey and Settlement in Bangalore to protect the interest of genuine property owners, could give revenue property holders here sleepless nights.
Once the scheme is implemented — the first phase is expected to be completed by December 2012 — transactions related to revenue properties could come to a standstill. Of the more than 16 lakh properties in Bangalore, 25 per cent are classified as revenue properties.
“Our position is that we want transaction of revenue property to be stopped, as these properties are not legal since they are constructed on revenue land,” a senior official of Survey and Settlement Department told The Hindu .
While only houses on the revenue land will be considered for survey work, sites on revenue land will be treated as agriculture land. Though the houses on such revenue properties would be measured and mapped before the card is issued with a number, it will contain a remark as “houses on revenue land”.
Sources, however, said: “We are a little cautious since it is a touchy issue, and we are expecting the Government to put in place a policy to mitigate problems for the revenue property owners.”
However, the Survey and Settlement Department, which is implementing UPOR project in Mysore, Shimoga, Bellary, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad, is following the system of inserting the remark on revenue properties.
UPOR card is being issued to the property owners to prevent fake and fraudulent transactions of their properties by land sharks. A transaction related to a property with UPOR card cannot take place without the owner's knowledge, or based on fake documents as the department would intimate him through SMS the transaction. Not only this, the project is likely to identify encroachment of government land.
Akrama-Sakrama
According to sources, revenue property owners could seek solace in Akrama-Sakrama, which is now hanging fire, since it would seek regularisation of revenue properties. “Clarity on these properties will come only if the State Government implements Akarama-Sakrama or finds another way to regularise revenue properties,” sources said and added that until then, revenue properties will be treated as not legal.
