Urban Agenda | Why India needs to update and digitise its urban land records

Unlike rural areas, government authorities in urban and peri-urban areas across India do not have updated land record data leading to a large number of property disputes and frauds. To address this issue, this Union Budget proposed a land digitisation programme for the year. To take forward the budget proposal, the Centre will soon start a pilot programme involving census towns, said officials aware of the matter.
In her budget speech on July 23, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that land records in urban areas will be digitised with GIS (geographic information system) mapping.
A repository of land ownership records will be created, which is practically missing in many urban and peri-urban areas, a senior official in the ministry of rural development, who asked not to be named, said. “There is a need to conduct surveys and create the database. We will write to states to start the process and the incentives are being finalised,” the official said, adding that a large-scale pilot involving at least one city from each state will begin soon.
“The goal is to create a transparent citizen-friendly service so that one can access information about a land parcel from any part of the country sitting anywhere in the world. For that, we have to understand if certain information related to land and property is maintained and updated by one government agency the same is reflected in the data maintained by other government departments. We will try to create a mechanism to streamline these,” another government official, who also asked not to be named, said
At present, the official said, urban land records data does not exist in most states. The land records data that exist currently are usually only for areas redeveloped by agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority in Delhi or Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran in Gurgaon.
As stated, the Union government will carry out the pilot exercise but eventually the programme has to be implemented by state governments and local authorities. The programme will be steered by the union rural development ministry as it has already been running a scheme to digitise land records in rural areas since 2008. As a result of the same, many states have bhulekh websites through which rural land ownership (record of rights or RoR) disputes records can be accessed. However, for the national capital, the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) will do the exercise after a law for the same is passed in Parliament.
The issue is most prevalent in areas which have recently come under the jurisdiction of the revenue department of the state to urban local bodies or agricultural land converted into residential areas as done in census towns on a large scale. The absence of certified land records in these areas has led to disputes and property fraud, the official added. In 2019, a Centre for Policy and Research paper stated that 66% of all civil cases in Indian courts were related to land and property disputes.
Census towns are areas that are yet to be notified by state governments as urban areas, but have urban characteristics such as a population of more than 5,000 with a density of more than 400 persons per square km and at least 75% of the male working population is involved in non-agricultural activities. The latest census in 2011 found that 3,894 such settlements existed across India.
The NITI Aayog in its 2021 report titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’ noted the importance of updating land records in urban areas and said the absence of such a record can also lead to unnecessary and time-consuming disputes.
The report said, “In urban areas, land is confronted with competing uses due to market forces, social necessities, as well as environmental concerns. If the land use plan of a city diverges from the status of land records, it may not get implemented on ground. Moreover, such divergences become a potential cause of unnecessary and time-consuming disputes and litigations.”
The report said that having accurate cadastral maps and clarity about property rights are very important for successful planning.
The Economic Survey 2023-24 too, noted that digitisation of land records is poised to improve transparency in land transactions, diminish property ownership conflicts, and enhance the efficiency of land management. The report took note of the 4,10,000 stressed dwelling units, involving ₹4.1 lakh crore, are affected, as estimated by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
As part of the budget speech, the FM also said that this will help facilitate improving the financial position of urban local bodies by having an IT-based system of property records and tax administration system.
The union government official earlier quoted said that Madhya Pradesh is one of the leading states in digitising land and property records in urban areas. Balendra Shukla, a GIS (geographical information system) expert currently working with Jabalpur Smart City said that the city along with other urban areas in the state is seeing an uptick in property tax collections as better GIS-based information is collected.
He said recently the city has mapped all property within the jurisdictional limits and created a 3D digital replica or digital twin to assess the property records using drones. He said officials can get an exact idea about the height of buildings, number of floors, and even signages. Similar exercises have led to better property tax collections in cities across Uttar Pradesh in recent years.
Raj Bhagat, a geo-analytics expert, said that city authorities maintain the property records data in most Indian cities based on self-assessed data provided by users. Speaking on the pilot, he cautioned that it should be left to the state governments and local authorities to decide on the specifics of the data they collect given that land regulations differ from state to state especially those related to slum regularisation.
Bhagat has two questions: How often will these databases be updated and how will the process be funded after the initial exercise?
The HT Urban Affairs team brings to you each week a story about where we live and how it affects the way we live