Government to start issuing 14-digit unique land parcel identification number

In a move aimed at making land acquisition easier for public projects besides ending dubious land ownership, the government will soon start issuing a 14-digit unique land parcel identification number in six states.

A decision to this effect was taken at a recently held meeting between top state government officials and officials of the department of land resources. The meeting was chaired by secretary, department of land resources.

The six states are Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha and Jharkhand where the pilot testing has been over. This would be followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Sikkim where pilot projects will be rolled out shortly.

The unique number will have ownership details of the plot besides its size and longitudinal and latitudinal details upto taluka level and beyond, if applicable. The unique number ULPIN would subsequently be linked to the Aadhaar and revenue court system.

The department of land resources, under the ministry of rural development, had roll-out the pilot project in the six states in September last year and following the successful completion of the pilot projects, ULPINs will now be rolled out in a graded manner in all land holdings, starting from this month

A senior government official told ET that this would facilitate real estate transactions, help resolve property taxation issues and improve disaster planning and response efforts.

“Henceforth, all issues related to collection of taxes and ownership of the plot can be traced using one single number,” the official said.

Land disputes, validity of titles and records and rightful ownership account for two-thirds of the cases pending in the country’s courts and it takes over 20 years on average to resolve them, impacting sectors and projects, shows some estimates.

Besides, land is often used as collateral for loans taken by farmers and unclear land deals inhibit their capacity to do so. Once implemented, the ULPIN will help genuine farmers to avail loans against their land.

The government has been implementing the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme for several years now that aims at digitisation of the land records and property registration process.