The Union Cabinet of the UPA government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh had approved the draft of “The Land Titling Bill, 2010”. This was supposed to be a model law to be adopted by all states and union territories. The objective of the proposed legislation was, inter alia, to provide for a uniform law across the country “for the establishment, administration and management of a system of conclusive property titles with title guarantee and indemnification against losses due to inaccuracies in property titles, through registration of immovable properties”.
The Bill was prepared by the Rural Development
Ministry’s ‘Department of Land Resources’ to bring uniformity across the
country and replace the existing deeds system fraught with excessive litigation
due to inaccuracies in property records.
It is a well-known fact that the present system
for keeping records of property titles and transactions has numerous
inadequacies. There are multiple, usually unconnected, agencies involved in the
process. The multiplicity of agencies, their inherent inefficiency and varying processes
of updation of property records, often lead to inaccuracies in the ultimate
records, causing avoidable disputes and litigation.
The Bill was primarily based on the Australian
System of 1858 (commonly known as ‘Torren System”), which has been adopted by
multiple countries subsequently. Under the Torren System, the government is the
keeper of all land and title records, and a land title certificate issued by
the designated authority represents proof of full, indefeasible, and valid
ownership.
Under the present system of ownership through deeds, all property titles are “presumed
titles”. These titles are claimed by people through diverse legally
recognizable instruments, which could be inaccurate, fraudulent, incomplete, or
inconclusive, giving rise to disputes and litigation.
The Bill however was never presented for
approval before the Parliament as most states did not respond favorably.
In November 2019, “the Committee to draft Model
Act and rules for states and model regulation for union territories on conclusive
land titling”, set up by the NITI Aayog submitted its report. Subsequently, in
October 2020, the NITI Aayog circulated the draft of a model Act and rules on
conclusive land titling to be adopted by all states and union territories. The
proposed bill is apparently based on Maharashtra’s draft land titling Act. The
Maharashtra draft is based on the recommendation of the task force that was set
up in 2017 under chairmanship of noted agriculture economist T Haque,
comprising experts from across the country.
Like 2010, most of the states have “failed” to
respond to the draft legislation. However, unlike the case with the 2010 draft
Bill, the central government this time has warned the states to reply promptly,
otherwise their silence will be treated as affirmation. Obviously, the states
do not like this approach of the central government much, and a constitutional
crisis may be brewing underneath.
Surprisingly, this issue
is mostly missing from the popular narrative. Inarguably, when implemented, this
would be one of the most important reforms in post-independence India.
…more on this tomorrow
