AA Edit | Good Idea to Digitise Land Deeds

The Supreme Court’s suggestion to the Central government to reform the country’s archaic property laws and introduce blockchain technology in property transactions is most welcome. The suggestion from the top court comes at a time when the Indian economy is on the cusp of emerging as the world’s third-largest.

Property matters are among the most intractable areas of litigation in India, owing to outdated laws and complicated procedures. These disputes account for an estimated 66 per cent of all civil cases in the country, wasting people’s precious time and the judiciary’s limited resources. India ranks 154th among 190 countries in ease of registering property.

Two major laws complicate the seemingly simple process of transferring property in India — the Registration Act, 1908, and the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. Although it is generally presumed that a property is transferred from one party to another upon registration, the law treats registration and ownership separately, handled by two different departments. This often results in people buying property from individuals with no improper title, leading to decades-long litigation.

One solution to this dichotomy is to entrust both functions to a single department. The Telangana government has already implemented this reform for agricultural land by authorising tehsildars, who maintain land ownership records, to carry out registrations. Similarly, if registration powers are transferred to the municipal administration or panchayat department for residential areas, it could conclusively resolve this issue.

With respect to ease of registration, India began the process of dematerialising equity shares in 1996. Today, equity shares worth Rs 473 lakh crore are held in electronic form, and ownership transfers amounting to over Rs 1 lakh crore take place seamlessly every day. There is, therefore, no reason for land registration to remain cumbersome. It is high time India shifted to a dematerialised (demat) system for land title deeds.