Can Bhu-Aadhaar eradicate land fraud? To a large extent, but only if central states are sincere

When even government land is not immune from seizure, can Bhu-Aadhaar eradicate the menace, once described by the Supreme Court as a phenomenon “as old as human civilisation”?

The question has become urgent ever since Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget gave impetus to the plan to assign a Unique Land Plot Identification Number (ULPIN) to every piece of land in the country.

The government claims that the 14-digit identification number, dubbed Bhu-Aadhaar, will be a solution against land grabbing and other fraudulent activities, including possession of “Good evening“land ownership.

What’s the plan?

The ULPIN rollout plan is part of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme, a 100 per cent centrally funded project that was revamped in 2016 from the earlier UPA government project, the National Land Record Modernisation Programme.

The modernization program is aimed at updating, digitizing and integrating land records and strengthening revenue administration. For this purpose, the Centre has decided to encourage state governments to complete the process within three years.

Almost all Indian states, except a few like Meghalaya, have started implementing the programme. West Bengal is also one of them.

What will ULPIN do?

Once the longitude and latitude of the parcel have been established based on detailed surveys and georeferenced cadastral maps, each parcel is assigned a 14-digit identification number.

The ULPIN contains all the details of the plot, such as the name of the owner, the area and the use (agriculture or residential). The number changes if the geometry of the plot changes during the mutation. That is, if part of the plot is sold.

Moreover, there will be consent-based integration of Aadhaar number with the land registry database and integration of land registry data with multiple directorates.

Status of Bengal

West Bengal had computerized land records of 42,123 villages out of 42,423 till June this year. The state has a total of 46,601,912 registrations of rights (RoRs), locally known as khatianin cadastral data. Each RoR receives a khatian number.

But since the land registry data at the office of the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer (BL&LRO) and the Directorate of Registration and Stamp Revenue are not yet fully integrated, there is room for fraud and disputes, says advocate Naba Pallab Roy.

“Sometimes, after someone sells part of his plot, the changes are not included in the BL&LRO cadastral data, even after the registration of the property, because the data is not integrated,” he stressed.

This issue will be largely, if not completely, addressed once the records are integrated, added attorney Roy. He was quick to add, however, that the new registrations and changes should be automatic.

Imitation is a big problem

He further stated that if the ULPIN is issued after integration of land data with the Aadhar, it will address the problem of land grabbing through identity fraud.

Most land disputes in West Bengal currently involve sale of land and alteration of land registry records by fraudsters posing as the owner.

Violation of the land ceiling

The Bhu-Aadhaar, if implemented properly, will also address land ceiling violations in the state, said a senior official of the West Bengal Land and Land Reform Officers’ Association, preferring anonymity as a government official.

“There may be cases where a person owning land in Kolkata and Siliguri and the two properties together exceed the land ceiling,” he cited, saying that at present it is very difficult for the government to establish such a violation.

The Aadhaar linked ULPIN will help monitor this and will also help in tracking Good evening properties, he added.

NB:

While the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) acknowledges that this land reform project, if “implemented with good intentions”, could help reduce land fraud, it issues a caveat.

Hannan Mollah of AIKS said the success of the project will largely depend on the extent to which the state and central governments implement land reforms.

Mannan said that the ULPIN will make it easier to acquire land as all information will be centralised and available at a click. “This huge collection of data should not become a gimmick to make it easier for companies to acquire agricultural land.”

Risk of falsified data

The AIKS leader is also concerned about the possibility of manipulating digitized data with the help of insiders from the land-related departments.

That his concerns are not entirely unfounded is evident from recent cases of seizure of government land in West Bengal, reportedly with the assistance of officials of the Department of Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation.

Taking of state land

The cases were reportedly brought to the notice of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In one case, sources said, 1.28 acres of lease-hold government land was converted into freehold in Jabuna mouza of Durgapur-Faridpur block in West Bardhaman district by manipulating digitised land records of the department. This came to the notice in May this year.

After many such cases occurred, the government set up a committee of high-ranking officials to prevent the seizure of state land.

It is not without reason that the country’s Supreme Court made the important observation that land grabbing is a phenomenon as old as human civilization. The court made this observation while setting aside a June 2000 Supreme Court order that upheld Andhra Pradesh resident Goundla Venkaiah’s claim to five acres of government land that his family had held for over 50 years.