Ownership Issues: Maharashtra to Bring Land Titling Act By December
The proposed system will provide a definitive property card containing comprehensive details of a property, including its location, valuation, measurements and ownership
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has decided to implement a conclusive digital land ownership system by introducing the Land Titling Act. The proposed act aims to legally protect property owners, streamline real estate transactions and eliminate systemic land disputes for nearly 14 crore citizens in the state.
Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday said that the Maharashtra government is preparing to introduce the landmark Land Titling Act during the upcoming Winter Legislative Session in Nagpur.
“Such a law exists in around 80 countries in the world. We are planning to bring the Land Titling Act in December,” he said.
Elaborating on its long-term benefits, the minister added, “After this Act comes into effect, people will get property rights through a property card. Once we complete land titling and issue this card, there will be no litigation on that property. You will be able to deal with your property directly.”
The proposed system will provide Unified Property Cards, under which all historical ownership tracing will be replaced by a single digital property card. This card will display the current owner, registered legal heirs, modern land measurements, official property valuations and a scannable QR code to access complete records securely online.
Under the current framework, property documents like 7/12 extracts, tax records or registered sale deeds only provide evidence of past transactions or possession rather than definitive proof of absolute ownership. The new act will establish government-backed digital titles that serve as final, authenticated proof of ownership, Bawankule said.
The government also plans to introduce a Vertical Property Card, which will be issued to urban dwellers in cooperative housing societies. These will explicitly record a flat owner’s exact dimensions, built-up area, and respective share of the land parcel to resolve typical inheritance and society conflicts.
Bawankule also launched systems named ‘Maharashtra Land Bank’ and ‘Mahabhumi Stack’ to accelerate infrastructure development projects in Maharashtra and to provide Revenue and Forest Department services to citizens in an online, accessible and transparent manner.
The Revenue and Forest Departments have jointly created a district-wise ‘Land Bank’ to accelerate key infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, bullet trains, and power transmission lines, he stated.
Under the law, when forest land is diverted for other uses, it is mandatory to provide an equal area of non-forest land or double the area of degraded forest land for compensatory afforestation. To prevent projects from stalling due to the search for suitable land, a substantial ‘Land Bank’ – comprising 33,056 hectares of degraded forest land and 7,546 hectares of non-forest land held by the Revenue Department – has been made available on a digital portal. This initiative facilitates the immediate, online acquisition of clearances for alternative land, thereby helping to ensure the timely completion of major development projects.
The state has several major infrastructure projects under implementation, including national and state highways, rail projects, bullet train, Dedicated Freight Corridor, ports and power transmission lines. About 20 percent of the state’s geographical area is under forests, making timely planning for compensatory afforestation important, Bawankule said.
