NITI Aayog Releases Draft Model Act On Land Titles

The NITI Aayog has released a draft model Act and rules for states on conclusive land titling with an aim to reduce litigations and ease the land acquisition process for infrastructure projects.

The model Act and rules will provide state governments power to order for establishment, administration and management of a system of title registration of immovable properties.

The aim of the draft model Act is to reduce a large number of land related litigations and also improve land acquisitions for the infrastructure projects.

Under the model Act, the land dispute resolution officer and land title appellate tribunal are one-shot institutions which will fade away as the work reduces.

Also, after three years of its notification, the register of title attains conclusivity without any external action.

Conclusive land titles are guaranteed by the state for correctness and entail provision for compensation by the state in case of any dispute.

According to the draft Act, any person aggrieved by an entry in the Record of Titles notified under Section 11 may file an objection before the Title Registration Officer within three years from the date of such notification.

Following this, the Title Registration Officer shall make an entry to that effect in Register of Titles and in the Register of Disputes and refer the case to the land dispute resolution officer.

A party aggrieved with an order of the land dispute resolution officer may file an appeal before the Land Titling Appellate Tribunal within 30 days of passing of such an order.

It also said that a special bench of High court shall be designated to deal with appeals against the orders passed by the Land Titling Appellate Tribunal.