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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Title dispute

Title dispute

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published Published on May 28, 2010   modified Modified on May 28, 2010


If you’ve ever bought land, chances are you have a Rolodex of ownership documents, and even that isn’t conclusive proof. The land registry is not sacrosanct; the sale deed — even if registered — isn’t endorsed by the government. If disputes break out, and they frequently do, there is no single ownership document. The only way to do that is to fight a lengthy court battle, spend cash on lawyers, and hope that the court, after years of adjournments and delays, finally tells you that your own land belongs to you.

That might change. The Department of Land Resources under the Rural Development Ministry has drafted the Land Titling Bill, 2010. Under the law, a newly created Register of Titles would give every parcel of land a unique number and clearly record ownership and other details. This register would be state-endorsed — in other words, it would be conclusive proof of ownership. The draft is only a model code which the states are encouraged to adopt. But if the idea catches on across India, its benefits would be wide-reaching for a free-market economy. The courts will be freed up of millions of cases that delay resolving other disputes. A conclusive register would also reduce transaction costs, including the multiple palm-greasing that buying land requires today. The new law might also check the land mafia, who won’t be able to forcibly possess property, then wear out the real owner in a never-ending court case. It will provide the landed poor with an easy way to certify their ownership and enter the formal market economy. Besides, as our columnist on these pages argues today, corporates currently prefer to acquire land through the government, to ensure that they are insulated from legal battles. The new law will render this convoluted process unnecessary.

Land transfer in India suffers from problems other that ambiguous title. Take poor documentation and varied data. Computerisation of land records is one solution, and it is hoped that the National Land Records Modernisation Programme solves some of this. Then there is corruption, a by-product of the often archaic preconditions that govern land transfer in India. To take just one instance, agricultural land in many states can’t be sold to non-farmers. The result: more avenues for rent-seeking. It is hoped that modern technology and fewer rules accompany the Land Titling Bill, 2010.


The Indian Express, 28 May, 2010, http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/171


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