The National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has constituted a model Act on conclusive land titles which is expected to be adopted by the States. The act aims to facilitate easy access of credit to farmers, reduce the number of land-related litigations, make real estate transactions and land acquisition for infrastructure developments transparent.
The new model Act proposes a list of titles on which objections and claims are called for. Following these claims and objections, the registers of the titles are notified and from then on the new registration process sets in. Also, the land dispute resolution officer and the land title appellate tribunal are temporary institutions which are dissolved as the work reduces, states the Act. Moreover, after three years of its notification, the registers of titles become conclusive without any external actions.
The land titles which attains conclusivity are guaranteed by the state for their correctness and entail provision for compensation by the state in case of disputes. Countries like the UK, Australia, Ne Zealand, and Singapore have already adopted guaranteed title systems. However, in India transactions are done based on the presumptive land titles presently. As proof of land ownership, in India, documents like sale deeds are counted along with property tax receipts or survey documents. However, such documents are a mere proof of transaction but not a government-guaranteed title, hence, can be challenged. According to the Government, digitization of land records can aid in adopting the conclusive land guaranteed title system.
Considering the stats, the government has done digitisation of over 90 per cent of land records under the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme of the Department of Land Resources.
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