HYDERABAD: To curb double registrations and irregularities in land records, the state govt has proposed making land coordinates mandatory for agricultural property registrations. This move follows provisions for the digital survey and rough mapping of land under the Bhu Bharathi (Right of Records) Act, which replaced the RoR Act, 2020.
Complaints of double registrations and fraudulent land sales have surged, with some individuals masking the original survey number of land. Sources indicate that even govt lands are being sold using false survey numbers.
Under sections 5 and 7 of the Bhu Bharathi Act, revenue officials are required to attach a rough map with property registrations before mutation. This map outlines land boundaries and extent for non-agricultural properties. The state govt has now proposed integrating GPS coordinates, including longitude and latitude, into the registration process, said the sources.
“This system, already in use in states like Karnataka for over a decade, will be implemented by licensed surveyors, with Telangana aiming to double its current count of 1,000 licensed surveyors,” M Sunil Kumar, land law expert and Dharani Committee member, told STOI.
The state govt is also working on rules for the new Act, which will be implemented through a notification. Maps will be reflected in pattadar passbooks under Section 10, and Tippan maps (basic survey sketch) as well as village maps showing sub-divisions will be included under Section 13, in phases.
To further clarify land sub-divisions, the govt plans to ensure that maps reflect by-number divisions (such as 1/2, 1/3, when a land parcel is sold in pieces) that currently appear in land records. This measure aims to prevent confusion during land sales, said Sunil Kumar.
The Telangana govt has also set provisions for a comprehensive land survey and re-survey under Section 4 of the Act. This will be carried out in every village as per the Telangana Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923, or the Telangana Land Revenue Act, 1907. The programme is likely to receive financial support from the Centre. “The AP govt has already covered around 2,000 villages in their land resurvey,” Sunil Kumar added.
Additionally, the state govt proposes assigning a unique Bhu Dhar number to each land parcel and introducing new passbooks with barcodes to combat fake passbooks and prevent malpractice in land registrations.
