Govt plans recording all landed property in cities

After a gap of 44 years, the State Government is set to conduct a City Survey soon to identity fraudulent land transactions involving its land and issue authentic ownership titles to all private properties.

The Department of Survey, Settlement and Land Records (SSLR) will identify all properties, both government and private, measure them, probe their ownership documents and generate ownership titles.

Copies of available ownership documents of all private properties will be obtained, verified and a new Urban Property Card (ownership title) will be issued if the documents are in the clear by charging a nominal fee after the survey, SSLR Deputy Director K V Rudresha told Deccan Herald.

At present, the SSLR is conducting the City Survey in some other cities of the State like  Mysore, Mangalore, Shimoga, Hubli-Dharwad and Bellary under Urban Property Ownership Records (UPOR) project under the public private partnership (PPP) model. The survey is at various stages across these urban centres.

Green signal

“We have received the green signal from the government to take up the Survey in Bangalore. We are gearing up to take up the task which is estimated to cost Rs 60 crore.

We would start the work in about six months if everything goes well,” Rudresha said.

In accordance with the Land Revenue Act, the City Survey was last done in 1966-67. At that time, 1.65 lakh properties, covering 131 sq km area (the present core Bangalore areas), were surveyed. Owners of all properties possess the Urban Property Card -- the official ownership record. After that, a City Survey was never done.

The survey will cover all  BBMP, BDA and BMRDA areas. Thousands of acres of encroached government land is expected to be traced by the survey. Most of the land are encroached by land developers and builders. In a large number of cases, the encroached land have been sold to private individuals long ago, and those who have purchased these plots do not possess proper titles. The Task Force for Protection of Government Land has estimated that of the 1.50 lakh acres of government land within the Bangalore Urban district, about 34,000 acres, valued at a whopping Rs 60,000 crore, have been encroached upon.

Survey process

The SSLR will create spatial data of revenue records by superimposing old village maps (villages that existed before they became urban areas) with the present urban areas. By doing so, government and private land can be identified. Copies of available ownership documents like sale deed, khata and title deed will be collected from the owners and verified. Besides, physical measurement of properties will be done.

“All parcels of government land will be marked and a report sent to the government. For all genuine owners of private properties, the Urban Property Card will be issued,” Rudresha explained. Wherever doubts arise about ownership, notices will be issued to the owners. If the owners submit all required documents and prove their ownership, then their properties will be notified calling for public objections.

If there is no objection, the card will be issued. However, properties, whose ownership is under litigation will not be included in the database till the courts issue a final decree.
At present, there is no proper ownership record for any property across Bangalore and other towns. Sale deeds maintained by Sub-Registrar’s offices are merely a document to prove sale transaction. Khata maintained by local bodies are records kept for tax collection. The survey will ensure titles for genuine owners and aid the government to recover its properties, Rudresha said.

Landing in a soup

* SSLR to conduct City Survey after 44 years’ gap
*  City survey was last done in 1966-77
* To identify encroachment of government land and issue authentic ownership titles to private properties
* Urban Property Cards, the official ownership document, will be issued to genuine owners.