Digitise records of govt lands under local bodies: HC

The High Court on Thursday directed the State Government to instruct all the local bodies to digitise the records of government lands under their jurisdiction.

Hearing a petition by B Lingiah, a resident of Begur, Justice Hulvadi G Ramesh directed the State government to preserve records after digitisation.

“The commissioner for Survey, Settlement and Land Records is present before the Court and he shall report to the government the concern of the court and the anguish of the public at large; to instruct all the local bodies from town municipal corporations up to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike to preserve the records and also get them indexed and scanned,” the court observed.

“Apart from that, records of various lands let out by the local bodies has to be comprehensively preserved and records be built and if possible, the details be provided to the revenue department/ urban development department so that they will consolidate them and take necessary action,” the court said.

The court has also directed the State to report the steps taken in regard to the clearance of encroachment of the forest lands as well as the government land.

The petitioner had moved the High Court over a property litigation. During the hearing of the petition, the court found that land records were missing.

Following a submission by senior counsel Pramila Nesargi, the High Court directed the State to digitise land records.