Moving Towards a Conclusive Land Title, through ICT

The ambiguity about property ownership and speed-up land transactions has ever since been a matter of concern for millions of people. Just paying the seller of the property isn’t the last step to being an owner of a property. The legal process is the transfer of land title from the earlier owner of the land to the new buyer – Land Titling. Its a form of land reform in which private individuals and/or families are given formal property rights for the land which they have previously occupied informally, through deed registration.

India as many other developing countries has the deed registration system (presumptive title), which is primarily paper-based. The main objective of the DILRMP (erstwhile NLRMP) is to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land records management system in the country with the aim to implement the conclusive land-titling system with title guarantee. This legal process is essential as it provides the buyer with a public record declaring him or her as the new owner of a particular property.

By having a new land title that carries your name, you avoid any ownership issues that may arise in the future. However, before an exercise of titling is taken up it is essential that:

1. The boundaries and location of properties are described with a reasonable level of accuracy and that all the properties are uniquely identifiable without any confusion. This also entails that the graphical record and textual records are integrated and unified so that there is no gap between the two.
2. The transfer of a property is affected by the action of registration and registration alone. This calls for introduction of system of Title registration rather than the deed registration as prevalent in the country today.
3. There is no gap between the change in title and change in record of the property, which means that the transfer of property and updating of the record are integral. There can’t be a mutation such as a situation where there are gaps between record and the actual position on ground.

The above mentioned points can be achieved with the following activities/ components:

1. Computerization of Land Records (Textual and spatial)
2. Land Records management and administration
3. Survey/ Re-survey
4. Web based GIS system
5. Computerization of Registration process
6. Integration of Registration with Land Records

Different states (in India) and other developing countries are progressing at different pace and with different approaches. They are first moving from a paper-based manual system, to a more or less paperless automated system of Land Governance. Secondly, a leap from the registration of deeds, to the registration of titles.

With core competencies in Land Records Management, development of web-based GIS system and computerization of the registration process, ITL has been deemed as the leader in the Land Record Modernization projects in and outside the country.

The Land Titling Computerization Project (LTCP), Philippines is a perfect example of a near paper-less issuance of conclusive titles to its citizen. ITL takes pride in the successful country wide implementation of the end-to-end land records management and registration system on a transaction based BOOT model.

Author: Pawan Sachdeva Practice Head – Land Governance, TerraCIS Technologies Limited

Pawan Sachdeva is responsible for driving the business growth and strategic direction of the land governance business unit at ITL. Since his joining in 2011, he has been instrumental in the land governance business growth from 4 references, to currently around 12 references. A Post Graduate in Business Administration from Symbiosis, and almost 15 years of experience in IT/ GIS industry.