A single-sheet Record of Rights (RoRs) comprising all details of land parcels, including extent, ownership and encumbrance, will soon substitute the puzzling land documents and the cumbersome land registration and transaction procedures in vogue.
A working group of the State Planning Board on land records has mooted a thorough shift in land transaction, record modernisation and maintenance by amending the Registration Rules, 1958. The group, headed by Planning Board vice chairman V.K. Ramachandran and comprising nine members, has recommended the constitution of a Kerala Land Settlement Authority for coordinating survey, registration, land use and such other activities to ease procedures, avoid multiplicity of agencies and ensure ease of business through systemic correction and a conclusive land titling system.
On introducing the RoRs, the mind-boggling land documents that conceal prime data in a maze of redundant and convoluted official jargon will become history.
An RoR would be a comprehensive document comprising details of the landholder, including bank account number, personal ID, land parcel number, classification and extent of land, two quick reference codes to access online geo-referenced sketch of the property and online liabilities scan.
The unique land parcel identification system mooted would end the confusion over survey numbers and creation of sub-divisions. On adopting the system, production of RoRs will become mandatory for registering land transfers to prove the right to transfer.
The group has laid due accent on digitisation of records and on having geo-referenced maps and survey records, and the government can do away with the periodical resurvey process that costs the exchequer dear.
Over the past five decades, the government had spent about ₹2,500 crore for the resurvey exercise in fits and starts and it has not yielded any palpable gains either to the government or the people so far. The new system would help the government get rid of the recurring financial burden and also the confusion over survey numbers.
It has been proposed to constitute the land settlement authority headed by the Chief Secretary with the powers of a civil court before December 31. Clear milestones have also been laid for completing the related procedures in a time-bound manner.
The political leadership is learnt to have approved the report and has fast-tracked the process in the wake of a volley of complaints about the functioning of Revenue Department offices overlooking objections from various quarters.
