CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday launched a new software for Tamilnilam portal, a land record database, to eliminate the need for surveyors to survey land parcels for issuing pattas for subdivided land. Hitherto, physical survey is mandatory to assign new survey numbers for subdivided land parcels.
The new software will integrate the layouts approved by the Directorate of Town & Country Planning (DTCP) and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and the portal will automatically assign a survey number for each subdivided plot. The land titles of sub-divisions created by the software will then be transferred to the layout owner or property developer’s name.
“When a person purchases a plot in DTCP or CMDA approved layout, the title assigned to the property will be transferred to the new owner automatically. As the land registration software is also integrated with Tamilnilam portal, the title change (patta) of a property will reflect online within a few minutes after registration of the property,” said an official from the survey and settlement department.
The revenue department gets 1.5 lakh applications per year for patta transfers involving subdivision changes for plots in layouts. Online patta transfer mainly gets delayed due to shortage of surveyors.
Following multiple complaints and court orders, the survey and settlement department last year fixed a 30-day deadline for completing land survey for patta transfers. However, lakhs of applications are still delayed for want of surveyors.
“When a plot owner applies for patta transfer every time, the surveyor had to survey the property. Now, the sub-division for the entire layout, regardless of its size, will be done by the software,” the official said.
In 2021, the revenue department introduced an automatic name transfer of patta based on registration of property. As of April 5 last year, 1,59,600 pattas have been issued, show official data.
Similarly, land segments earmarked for parks, schools, water tanks, roads and OSR in the layout will also be marked as government properties in Tamilnilam portal. “Property developers or land sharks will not be able to sell the OSR or vacant lands illegally as the title transfer option will be disabled for such properties,” said a revenue official.The Chief Minister had also launched another portal that would expedite town planning survey in the newly added areas in nine corporations and 36 municipalities across the state.
“When rural areas are merged with town panchayats, municipalities and corporations, survey numbers of rural areas and classification of properties will change. The exercise, which normally takes years to be completed due to manual process that is involved, will be expedited now because of the advanced software,” an official had added.