Need for comprehensive reforms on land laws: VP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

Advocating the need for comprehensive reforms on land laws in the country, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said such an effort by the Centre and states together could reduce litigation relating to land issues while transforming lives.

“Land is the basic source of livelihood for 50 per cent of the population who are dependent on agriculture and is critical to them,” the Vice President said, while releasing a book, Land Registration — Global Practices and Lessons for India, by BK Agarwal, Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh.

According to statistics, a third of the cases in the courts are disputes over property and undertaking reforms in land registration should result in solving the problem, he said praising the effort of the bureaucrat who studied the subject during a sabbatical.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, a Guest of Honour, said: “India loses at least 1.3 per cent of its economic growth due to disputes over land titles. In 2018, the World Bank while rating ease of doing business in the sector gave Mumbai 9 points on its 30 parameters while Singapore got 29 out of 30.”

While some states have embarked upon bringing about changes in the system, he said the NITI Aayog was doing a pilot project in Chandigarh using block chain for land titling. In India, he said, at present the system meant registration of deed without legal value.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who too was a Guest of Honour, said: “It is time the country has a statutory codified land registration.” He praised the author for his work in bringing a book that made comparative studies of the system in other countries.

Agarwal said some experts held the view that India should switch over from deed registration system to title registration to solve the problem of ever-increasing land disputes.