Land Disputes

Hyderabad: 95% land subject to legal dispute for lack of owners

DECCAN CHRONICLE. Oct 21, 2018

Land ownership is therefore presumptive, and subject to challenge.

Land ownership in India is established largely through a sale deed recording the transfer of property, but there is no government guaranteed title, and the onus is on the buyer to check the past ownership of the land and ensure it is free of encumbrances. Land ownership is therefore presumptive, and subject to challenge.

Land-related disputes account for about 80 per cent of all civil litigation in India, and as much as 95 per cent of all land parcels are subject to legal dispute. In order to check this practice, the HMDA and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation have decided to conduct a comprehensive survey and adopt the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) in the Greater Hyderabad region.

According to highly-placed sources in the HMDA, Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy, during a meeting, asked town planning officials to conduct a comprehensive study of land ownership, digitise the records and guarantee ownership to the rightful land owner. He told the officials to adopt DILRMP in the HMDA limits and tour Mysore which has already implemented it. Sources said that DILRMP will enable the second phase of land purification in urban areas.

Land-related disputes account for about 80 per cent of all civil litigation in India

Land-related disputes account for about 80 per cent of all civil litigation in India

A senior HMDA official said DILRMP will develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land records management system in urban areas. It will accord a unique identity to every property and enable a common base for all land transactions, including the maintenance and updating of textual records, maps and survey

Land Titling

The Department of Land Resources in the Ministry of Rural Development has released a draft version of The Land Titling Bill, 2011 on its website. This draft is a major revision of the original draft Bill released in 2010. Public comments on this draft are invited before June 24, 2011.

Extract:

V. Register of Titles

After completion of records is notified by the Authority, the Register of Titles is prepared and maintained by the Authority. For each property, the Register will include: (a) general description, map, and locational details of the immovable property; (b) descriptive data such as a unique identification number, plot number, total area, built up and vacant area, address, site area, and undivided share in the land; (c) detail of survey entry, provisional title record, conclusive title record and status, mortgage, charges, other rights and interests in the property; (d) details of transfer of the property and past transactions; and (e) disputes pertaining to the property.

Entries in the Register of Titles will serve as conclusive evidence of ownership. These entries shall be maintained in electronic form, indemnified, and kept in the public domain.