- Manoj Joshi, Secretary
Starting from mention in the Manusmriti for land revenue collection by the kings to the land records system developed by Raja Todarmal in Shershah and Mughal times, system developed during British period and that evolved post-independence, India has travelled a long journey to reach the present fully digital records and maps in rural areas.
Urban land records are not maintained in India except in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu and few other cities. Purchase deed of the property registered in the Sub Registrar Office is mostly the only title. Sub Registrars functioning under the Registration Act, 1908 carry out some due diligence on the ownership of the seller, but they are supposed to register all the documents that are presented before them. In the absence of Government land records, possibility of fraud and disputes in urban land records exists.
In rapidly urbanizing peri-urban India, private developers are aggregating agricultural lands and developing colonies. These colonies are being developed with or without layout approval by local authorities. Cases of multiple sale of the same plot in unauthorized colonies are aplenty. Absence of Government land records for expensive urban land, leads to uncertainty, risk, cost of due diligence by the purchasers and litigation.
Drone based aerial imagery – City Survey
Now GIS based maps could be prepared with accuracy of 5 cm through drones/ aircraft in 2-4 month time at reasonable cost of Rs 2 lakh per km2. Government authorities need to undertake ground verification of such maps and verify ownership documents. Municipal Property tax data provides preliminary input on ownership. After publishing detailed maps with individual plot and owner details, public objections are invited.
The difficult part of city survey is ground truthing and authenticating ownership documents. Large number of teams for ground verification need to be mobilized including surveyors and government officials. Cities do not have adequate staff for this purpose either with Revenue Department/ municipalities GIS based city survey also finds difference between the land in actual possession and the title document. Up to 5% difference occurs due to higher level of accuracy of GIS based measurements. Owners file objections, if the new record shows less land under their possession. In a number of cases, title of the property is not clear or disputes exist.
City Survey is a large manpower mobilization exercise and requires careful handling of objections received. It requires large political and administrative commitment on the part of the State Government. Department of Land Resources (DOLR), Government of India has launched a pilot program for undertaking city survey called NAKSHA in 152 cities across all the states/UTs in one year. This would be followed by survey in 1000 cities in next phase with plan to cover all 4912 cities in 5 years.
Urban land records and maps from city survey provide title certainty to citizens. Other related data such as owner/tenant family details, property tax, building plan approval, electricity, water and gas could also be integrated on this base. This would improve ease of living for citizens and facilitate various local government agencies.
Urban Planning and Property Tax
With multiple cameras, 3D image and digital twin of the city are generated. They could be used for better property tax assessment and urban planning. Laser based LiDAR imaging provides elevation mapping helping in better designing of storm / flood water drainage and evacuation in cities. Transportation planning, road development, land acquisition for infrastructure and other aspects of urban planning are facilitated. In a large number of cities in India, drone images have been obtained but have not been used for these purposes due to lack of capacity with ULBs. States and ULBs need to acquire private sector expertise in GIS technologies and urban planning.
Funds required for these works in a city of one million would not exceed Rs 5 crore. This is effort intensive and not fund intensive. With ease in aerial imagery and use of artificial intelligence, India is looking to develop urban land records in next 5 years, better property tax assessment and urban planning solutions and flood mitigation measures.
(Manoj Joshi is Secretary of Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development)
