Tamil Nadu government plans special drive to update land records

The communication regarding the special drive for updating land records has been sent to respective departments

An Open Space Reservation (OSR) site belonging to Coimbatore Municipal Corporation. File. | Photo Credit: M. Periasamy

The Commissionerate of Land Administration has instructed local body authorities across Tamil Nadu to conduct a special drive for necessary updation of the land records (with subdivisions) and mark out the Open Space Reservation (OSR) lands in Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, Town Panchayats and Village Panchayats, as many of OSR lands remain untraceable.

In a recent communication, the Commissioner of Land Administration (CLA) S. Nagarajan requested authorities to give special attention and review the issue weekly and send progress report.

The CLA’s move followed an observation from the Director of Municipal Administration who said many of the OSR lands remain untraceable. As per Rule 47(6) of Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, the name of any gifted land/open spaces land has to be changed in favour of the local body concerned.

However, the Directorate of Municipal Administration observed that in many cases, the reserved lands still remain in the name of private owner/s,and many of the owners of the layout are not traceable.

In a communication to the Commissionerate of Land Administration, the Directorate of Municipal Administration said: “The local bodies name is not reflected in the land records. The urban local bodies are facing problems in maintaining the gifted land and are not able to legally guard the lands from litigations and encroachments.”

According to provisional figures available with the government, there are over 1,000 OSR sites in urban local bodies within the jurisdiction of 20 Municipal Corporations. In Erode Municipal Corporation, there are 328 OSR sites of which, 130 have more than 300 sqm, while 198 have less than 300 sqm.

In Coimbatore Municipal Corporation, of the 275 OSR sites, 150 have more than 300 sqm and 125 have less than 300 sqm. A total of 10 OSR sites in Coimbatore have been developed. Madurai (114), Tirunelveli (89) and Tiruchi (29) are the other Municipal Corporations that had many OSR sites. Figures for Greater Chennai Corporation, Kancheepuram and Dindigul Municipal Corporations were not immediately available.

A senior official told The Hindu that data for town and village panchayats are to be collected during the special drive and the provisional figures in Municipal Corporations would also be updated. After the updation, they will become lands owned by the concerned local body/OSR lands, the official said.

The communication regarding the special drive for updating land records has been sent to Municipal Administration and Water Supply, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj departments, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, Commissioner of Rural Development, Commissioner of Town Panchayat, Director of Survey and Settlement and the Director of Municipal Administration.