Land Board to provide title deeds before December
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aimed at providing complete ownership of land to all the tenants in the state, the State Land Board has taken up an initiative to provide title deeds to at least one lakh tenants before December 2017.
As part of the drive, the Land Board has instructed all the tribunals to dispose of the pending cases at the earliest. As of now, these tenants are facing several hurdles for getting loans and other benefits as the land is still in the name of the ‘janmi’ (landlord) in village records. Though these lands have been in their possession for years, they have never been able to make any transactions.
All the 29 Land Tribunals, including the mother tribunals and the additional ones, have been asked to make a list of cases to be disposed off every month, State Land Board Secretary Ramachandran told Express.
Noting only as many as 500 to 1,000 cases of the tenants were taken up by the tribunals earlier, he said about 5,000 cases are now disposed of a month. He also said a majority of the cases was in Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur.
It has been estimated about two lakh cases related to tenancy is pending before the Land Tribunals. There are even cases more than seven to 10 years old.
"If the tribunals are handling cases in such a pace, there is no doubt about 90 per cent of the issues will be settled by December 31, 2017,’’ Ramachandran said. Once the cases are disposed at the Land tribunals, the tenants get their title deed after 60 days of the appeal period.
He also said the functioning of tribunals is monitored daily. Apart from monthly video conferencing with the tribunals, regular inspections are also held, he said.
Moreover, it is learned the District Collectors have been directed to only appoint efficient tahsildars at the Land Tribunals good at disposing of the cases at the earliest.
Moreover, they have also been asked to monitor the whole process.