As the government faced resentment over the manner in which it tried to enforce land transactions through Dharani portal, stakeholders suggest that the government first take up manual updating of the existing land records and get them approved through gram sabhas before opening up transactions online.
A comprehensive land survey to demarcate the borders and protecting the interests of the owners is the need of the hour. They survey will ensure that details of some extents of land which are completely missing in the records are incorporated, thus giving a clear picture of the entire land parcels across the State.
Though the government made budgetary allocations for comprehensive survey in the past, it did not materialise. “Detailed survey and settlement of land extents and boundaries will pave the way for a regime of conclusive titles or at least guaranteed titles to owners, at least in the long run,” Nalsar adjunct professor and expert in land laws M. Sunil Kumar said.
He welcomed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision on setting up land tribunals by doing away with the existing revenue courts at different levels. Such tribunals should be set up one each at the district-level and one for overall monitoring and supervision at the State-level. One major reform which the government should undertake is bringing about a single law governing the entire land administration issues unlike the more than 80 different legislations in vogue at present.
