Jaipur, Apr 13 (KNN) With the passage of Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bill, 2016, Rajasthan becomes the first in the country to stand guarantee of ownership to the  land title holder.  

The system of keeping land ownership records not being full-proof, the land markets have been inefficient and full of frauds.  The new regime aims to put an end to fraudulent practices in sale and purchase of non-agricultural land which is also used for setting up industries and businesses.

With  the new Act, Rajasthan Government is to set up an Authority that will verify all records. The authority will first issue a provisional certificate, for which the state will not stand guarantee. If there are no objections or dispute, the authority will issue a ownership certificate and a map to the owner with state guarantee in lieu of payment of a nominal fee.

“The only asset most of the entrepreneurs have is a piece of land or a dwelling, but the title not being clear, they find it difficult to monetize it  by either selling or  leasing it” according to Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General of Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME). 

“The immoveable property in majority of cases in India is indeed immovable because of difficulty in getting ownership rights established and this becomes a big bottleneck in doing business”, he added.

According to FISME,  in Ease of Doing Business index prepared by World Bank annually, India ranks at 183 position in 189 countries on the issue of construction permits which includes issues related to land for business and industries.

Efficiency of land markets is clearly reflected in higher business and industrial activity.  It is not by chance that states that have been growing faster are the one that have modernized and computerized land records namely Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.   

But bestowing a guarantee of ownership to the title holder takes the reform at a higher stage through this pioneering legislation and it will result in higher economic growth of the State says FISME. (KNN Bureau)