On property registration and title, Pg12

Key Highlights:

• The Supreme Court in Samiullah vs State of Bihar criticized India's property buying process as "traumatic".
• The court struck down Bihar Registration Rules that required sellers to provide proof of mutation.
• The court reaffirmed that registration doesn't establish title or ownership, which falls under civil courts.
• The upcoming Registration Bill, 2025, aligns with the principle that registration officers can't adjudicate property title.
• Karnataka's Bhoomi and KAVERI systems link records with registration, updating ownership upon transfer deed registration.
• The Supreme Court suggested exploring blockchain technology for secure and transparent land records.
• Andhra Pradesh's blockchain pilot project reportedly halved land disputes and improved transaction efficiency by 30%.

Detailed Insights:

• India's land governance is a mix of colonial laws, complex administration, and an overburdened judiciary, leading to prolonged land disputes.
• Registration, Survey and Settlement, and Revenue departments operate independently, hindering record synchronization.
• The current system creates only a presumption of title, challengeable in court with various evidences, burdening buyers with due diligence.
• Historical inconsistencies in land governance, diverse revenue systems, and post-independence reforms have created a complex socio-legal framework.
• Large-scale administrative reform is needed to create an integrated record-keeping system to minimize fraud in land transactions.
• Blockchain technology can create a transparent and immutable network of land records, but data accuracy and existing structures must be considered.
• The Registration Act is concerned solely with the registration of documents and registration creates a rebuttable presumption of ownership.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Mutation: The process of updating land records with changes in ownership.
• Title: Legal right to ownership of a property.
• Registration: Recording of property transactions in government records.
• Blockchain: A decentralized, immutable ledger for recording data across a network.