PORVORIM: In an effort to prevent land fraud in the state, the Pramod Sawant-led government in its Budget 2023-24 has proposed a series of reforms, including linking the Record of Property Rights with the Aadhaar number of property owners.
In his budget speech, Sawant said that the government’s seriousness in dealing with land-related fraud in the state is evident from the Special Investigating Team (SIT) established by the government, which is currently investigating over 40 cases of land grab. The government has also constituted a one-man commission under Justice (Retd) VK Jadhav to further investigate the matter.
Sawant stated that as a step towards preventing land fraud in the state, he proposes to link the Record of Rights with the Aadhaar number. The government also plans to set up modern Records Rooms for all the talukas and develop mobile applications to locate and identify properties on a real-time basis.
“Scanning and cataloguing of all legacy records in Portuguese language will be undertaken with assistance from the Central Government. For all these purposes, an allocation of Rs. 43.35 crores has been made for the Department of Settlement and Land Records,” the Chief Minister said.
The government has announced its intention to upgrade the Property Register, which will enable the general public to carry out due diligence themselves before purchasing any land. “Further, financial institutions will also be linked with the Property Register so that encumbrances, if any, will be known to the public,” he added.
The proposed reforms aim to streamline the process of property registration and transfer, and increase transparency in land-related transactions.
