Land reforms in 11 Karnataka cities may restart property titling project

Bengaluru: Karnataka has selected 11 small cities and towns where urban land reforms will be implemented for which the Union government will provide fiscal incentives, and this could revive an ambitious project of issuing property titles that confer absolute ownership.  

Reforms include digitisation of land records using spatial mapping and establishing an IT-based system for property record administration. A key milestone is the preparation cadastral maps along with the names of landowners who will get property cards. 

The state government believes this can kickstart the Urban Property Ownership Records (UPOR) project, which has not progressed much.

UPOR is a unique titling project where property owners get property register (PR) cards that contain spatial details of the property, area of the land, rights on the property (ownership, mortgage, lease etc) and history of transactions.

It is widely believed that UPOR can make land or property ownership dispute-free as the existing nature of holdings is ‘presumptive’ and prone to litigation. 

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told DH that UPOR was “stalled” under the previous BJP government. “In Shivamogga, for example, property cards were ready. But they were stopped,” he said. In Bengaluru, too, around four lakh draft PR cards are ready.

Now, the Union government is giving states Rs 5,000 crore incentive for urban land reforms under the Scheme for Special Assistance for Capital Investment 2024-25.

For this, Karnataka has picked Kolar, Chikkamagaluru, Basavakalyan (Bidar), Puttur (Dakshina Kannada), Gokak (Belagavi), Siruguppa (Raichur), Bagalkot, Bhagyanagar (Yadgir), Bogadi (Mysuru), Boragava (Belagavi) and Anavatti (Shivamogga) -- each with a population of less than two lakh. 

“The Union government wants us to preferably take up 3-D imaging so that not only ground spatial data, but vertical data is also captured. This will help develop property cards and give municipalities a better picture of growth,” Gowda explained.

Gowda said the government is keen to pilot these reforms. “We are in favour of UPOR, which has lost steam,” he said, adding that streamlining urban property ownership is crucial. “Since 60% of India is likely to be urbanised by 2050, urban administration will be key to the country’s future,” he said. “We need to do (reforms) properly. We don’t want to go one step forward and take two steps back.”