ABOUT THE BOOK

As per an estimate, a third of cases pending in Indian courts involve dispute over property. Some experts have the view that India should switch over from deed registration system to title registration system to solve the problem of ever increasing land disputes. The Department of Land Resources, Government of India, also subscribed to this view and listed ‘moving eventually towards guaranteed conclusive titles to immovable properties in the country’ as one of the objectives of the National Land Records Modernization Program (NLRMP) launched in 2008. In spite of this policy, not much headway was made by the states in this direction. Experience has shown that unless there is substantial research to support such a drastic change in the registration system practiced in India, states would not go for it.

This book, authored by a senior Indian Administrative Service officer having extensive first-hand knowledge of land administration, fills the existing gap of research in the field of land registration and maintenance of title records in India. It contains:

1. A Comparative analysis of land registration system of Germany, UK, Australia, USA, France, and the Netherlands, the first three having title registration systems and the other three practicing deed registrations system.

2. Analysis of replicability of each of these systems in the Indian context.

3. Comparative analysis of laws regarding maintenance of land title records in four Indian states viz. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and West Bengal, covering each of the four regions of the country.

4. The author’s evidence-based recommen-dations on reforms required in the Indian land registration system.

This book is a must-read for practitioners of law relating to land and property, and for policy makers looking at land-record reform as part of larger economic reforms. Law students aiming to understand the Indian land registration system, and how land registration is done around the world, will also benefit greatly from this work. 

ABOUT Author

B. K. Agarwal, is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and is presently working as Chief Secretary to the Government of Himachal Pradesh. He has several years of hands-on experience in land administration. During his postings as Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner in Himachal Pradesh, he has handled several crucial land administration tasks, viz., adjudication of land title disputes, making of cadastre and registration of  land transfer deeds.

He has done a  five years stint as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India where he has acquired in-depth knowledge of issues relating to urban land management. His Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering have given him the required theoretical knowledge to understand the technical aspects of cadastral survey, which is an essential part of land title records.

Keen to give his vast administrative experience an academic rooting, he joined, in 2016, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow as a scholar-in-residence to research on land administration systems in India and other countries. A report on his research submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has received wide appreciation. In 2017 he joined the Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration in the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. As part of this programme, his thesis Conclusive Land Title System for India has earned him an M.Phil. degree from the Punjab University.