Kerala State Land Bank (A Government of Kerala initiative)

XECUTIVE SUMMARY

Land is one of the most inestimable resources as far as state of Kerala is concerned. The state with its dense population, is finding it hard to satisfy the land needs of even the most deserving categories and development initiatives. Kerala pioneered land reforms and enacted the Land Ceiling Rules and implemented the reforms effectively. Land Reforms Act accompanied by other legal instruments like Kerala land Conservancy Act, 1957; The Kerala Escheats and Forfeitures Act, 1964; The Kerala Revenue Recovery Act, 1968; The Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964 etc., gave the Government ample support to conserve, improve and manage the lands vested with it.

Despite these, encroachments in Government lands have been rampant especially after the 1990’s. To take inventory of Government land and to curtail illegal encroachments on Government lands the Government of Kerala initiated a project called KERALA STATE LAND BANK for the scientific inventorisation and professional management of Government lands. This would assist the Government in the rational use of Government owned lands with a perspective on the future developments of the State. Through this Government will be implementing measures for the overall control of encroachments and rational use of Government lands for meeting the developmental as well as social obligations of the State in future.

The Department of Revenue will act as the custodian of KERALA STATE LAND BANK on behalf of themselves and sister departments like PWD, LSGD, Department of irrigation etc. as well.

ome of the current challenges faced by the Revenue Department

• The extent of Government land under the overall possession and control of Department of Revenue has not been assessed so far in a systematic way, even more than 50 years of formation of state
• The number of cases booked under the KLC Rules, 1958 against the encroachment of Government lands as on January, 2008 is only 17500 as per the reports. Factually the numbers might cross 0.1 million
• The extent of encroached Government lands is 1 903.38 acres as on January, 2008 as per the reports. The figures reflect only the encroached area against which KLC proceedings are initiated, the left out ones may be 100 times more than these numbers
• The contribution of the present lessees to the Kerala budget was only Rs. 2.17 crores in 2007-08, whereas it could have been at least 1000 times more, had the leases been made on tendered / auction basis.
• The time expired leases in Kerala in the prime localities alone accounts to more than 3000 cases, which further warrants centralized supervision of leases by an agency like KSLB.
• The extent of Government lands other than plantations held under lease is reported as 4 479.52 acres as on January, 2008 and the extent of plantations held under lease is another 74828.07 acres. However, the returns from these leased out lands are hopelessly low due to lack of platform for the competition among the prospective lease holders, lack of records on already given out leases and due to the total mismanagement of the system.
• The costly land acquisitions could not be averted due to the lack of inventory of available Government lands.

BJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

INVENTORISATION OF GOVERNMENT LANDS: This is the process by which the Government lands will be surveyed and the sketches along with other land details will be digitized and stored as permanent record. The details including the digitized sketches (this will be Geo-referenced later) are being used in this website. This site can help the Government agencies especially SRO’s to avoid transactions on Government Land.

INCOME GENERATION FROM GOVERNMENT LANDS: The KSLB will be the sole agency in the state which will act as the custodian of leasable Government lands. The KSLB after the inventorisation will prepare a comprehensive list of Government lands KSLB will promote construction of multiplexes in the amalgamated pieces of lands if housing societies are formed among the above allottees. The above activities of KSLB will help to check the activities of the so called land mafia and speculative price hike of lands to a great extent. The IT and tourism based industries which have scope for future development and contribute to the economy of Kerala, will be given special attention in the allotment of lands. A rational apportioning of land for such purposes will help in all-round development of the state as the over crowding of such industries in and around Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram will definitely result in huge sewage and drinking water problems in the near future. The KSLB will put forward a proposal to the Government to stop the assignment on registry of Government lands in commercially important sites (The list of which have been under preparation in the KSLB). Instead such lands will be given either on long term (10 years), medium term (5 years) or short term (1 year) lease. All the leases in the state will be reviewed (it has already started), renewed on merit. There will be “alerting systems” developed for the timely renewal and curbing of illegal possession after the expiry / reported violation of lease cases. The proposals of the deserving cases for OTS for the clearing of arrears will be prepared by the KSLB for placing the same before the High level committee headed by Chief Secretary. The land in the commercially important sites will be put to auction for inviting commercial projects from NRK’s and NRI’s on BOT basis for 25 years. The building plans approved by KSLB, will alone be allowed at such sites. For the registered charitable institutions with reputed track record of more than 5 years (filing of annual returns, yearly audited accounts, satisfactory certificate from registrar of societies etc. are pre-requisites) and Government institutions like CRPF, BSF, ISRO etc., will be given lands on license basis up to 50 years, by executing the license agreements and after retaining the exclusive right of the land with the KSLB.

SURVEILLANCE AND PROTECTION: The KSLB with its own machinery and with the help of local revenue officials will undertake the surveillance activities of the Government lands in a more meaningful way. A Public Land Protection Force (PLPF) will be formed in each district for co-ordinating the efforts.

For the random checking of commercially important Government lands and for auditing of the assigned lands both in files as well as in field. For this BEAT POINTS will be established at different reported sites and the PLPF personnel should sign the beat register at monthly intervals kept at the immediate neighbours’ houses of the reported site. The Inspection Deputy Tahsildars attached to Taluk offices at present will be brought directly under the control of these officers. They will report to KSLB the violations of lease / license and also misuse of assigned lands besides timely reporting encroachment if any of Government lands. KSLB will act upon their recommendations.

Protection of Government lands will be done by erecting Boards and by erecting live / non living fences around the sites. The cultivable lands will be given on rental basis to Kudumbasree units, SHG’s etc., for undertaking cultivation activities. Unique Land Bank Jundas will be erected at junction points of each land parcel of more than 50 cents in extent.

A TOLL FREE CITIZEN CALL CENTRE is set up in the KSLB with number 1800 425 5255. The general public can make free calls to this number if encroachments on Government lands are noticed in their area. Besides, the TFCC centre will act as an information centre for the public as well as revenue officials on Land laws.

ROJECT REQUIREMENTS

I. Man power requirements

THE PROPOSED ORGANOGRAM OF KERALA STATE LAND BANK

Head Office                   : Commissionerate, Thiruvananthapuram
District Offices               : At Collectorates

Director: The Commissioner of Land Revenue will act as the Director of KSLB

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): The Addl. / Joint Commissioner of Land Revenue Commissionerate will act as the CEO of KSLB.
Chief Operating Officer (COO): An officer in the cadre of Deputy Collector (Higher Grade) may head the operations of KSLB.

Land Audit Officers: Tahsildars attached to different Collectorates may be assigned the task of surveillance of deposited lands in their respective jurisdiction. They should also act as source office of KSLB on activities, information and application for crediting and debiting of lands at regional level. 14 such posts need to be created for this purpose.

Deputy Tahsildars: The Deputy Tahsildars (Inspection) attached to taluks will be attached to KSLB. They will co-ordinate the activities like opening of the accounts in KSLB, debiting of accounts in KSLB, effecting changes in the Survey sketch and location maps, target based reporting of fresh cases to KSLB etc.

Revenue Inspectors: Two Revenue Inspectors each will be in charge of surveillance of KSLB deposited lands at each district. They will submit monthly reports duly signed by Deputy Tahsildars & Local Land Audit Officers on the status of lands in their respective jurisdiction. They can request for eviction of encroachments if any by filing Form AA as detailed in the Kerala land conservancy Act, 1957,   to the KSLB Head quarters so that with the help of Public Land Protection Force (PLPF), the encroachers can be summarily evicted.

Lower Division Clerks & Computer Aided Design specialists: To begin with six Lower division clerks may be deployed / posted on working arrangement for the smooth conduct of inventorisation activities of KSLB for the first year. The LDC’s with computer knowledge will be given preference. Three CAD specialists from Survey & Land records will also be deployed for digitization activities of the surveyed sketches.

MPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

THE MODALITIES TO BE OBSERVED DURING THE DEPOSITION PROCESS

Step I :
Collection of land details : This include the collection of details including the ownership of land (The details of department), type of land (Poromboke, tarisu, ponds etc.), extent of land (in Ares / Ha), location map and latest survey sketch. All the above details may be entered the Annexure I along with the survey sketch (in digitized format) may be prepared.

Step II :
Opening of an account in Kerala State Land Bank: The duly filled in Annexure I prepared by Village officer, checked by Tahsildar and counter signed by the Deputy Collector (LR) should submitted at the Head quarters of Kerala State Land Bank (Commissionerate) along with the digitized version of survey sketch and location map (if possible). The CAD specialists attached to the KSLB office at Commissionerate will digitalize the sketches and store it as an attachment with each bit of Government land which is individually coded and stored based on the details collected from the various village offices.

Step III:
Obtain confirmation from KSLB: After the deposition process the individual land lot will be given a 13 digit code number which means that the account is confirmed. The sample 12 digit code number will be as follows;

K R D 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 : This means the particular land is the property of Kerala Revenue Department (KRD) and the land type is Poromboke land (P), in Thiruvananthapuram (01) district, in Thiruvananthapuram (01) taluk, in Kadakampalli (01) village and is the first reported case (001). This code number should be used for all the future correspondence with the KSLB.

Step IV:
Periodic checking of the balance: The depositing departments can verify their land accounts in KSLB as well as in field, periodically. Any changes in its quantity and quality may be intimated to KSLB in time to formulate / initiate action at the end of KSLB.

YPES OF LAND WHICH CAN BE DEPOSITED IN KSLB

a. Department of Revenue:
The department will deposit the lands vested with it in the proposed Kerala State Land Bank after duly filling in the application in Annexure I. The types of land which can be deposited by the department include,

b. Department of Local Self Government :
The land which have been vested with the LSG department as per the provisions of the Panchyath Raj Act comes under this category

Ponds and its catchments (Code No: KLD, - , - , - , - , ) : The ponds along with the adjoining area are to be surveyed afresh and recorded.
Panchayath roads (Code No: KLD, - , - , - , - , - , - , - ) : The area of panchayath roads will be demarcated and should be recorded.
Streams (Code No: KLD, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - ) : The natural streams and drains are to be surveyed and the area is to be ascertained
Panchayath lands (KLD, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - ) : The lands which are owned by the individual panchayaths through purchase, transfer etc., comes under this category

c. Department of Public Works :
1. Roads.
2. Abandoned roads.
3. Rest houses.

d. Department of Irrigation

Rivers and river poromboke.
Pipe line roads.

HE MODALITIES TO BE OBSERVED DURING THE DEBITING PROCESS

Step I :

Request from the concerned department along with the recommendation of District estate committee: Debiting if any will be strictly based on the proposed Land Use and Management policy. For effecting any reduction in the deposited area by way of debiting, there should a specific request along with the following enclosures;
1.   Application
2.   Request letter of the concerned department (Copy)
3.   Recommendation of the District Estate Committee / TLAC (Original)

Step II :

Debiting the account at KSLB: The application received at KSLB will be verified and debiting of the account will be carried out accordingly. Corresponding changes in the survey and location sketches will also be made.

CTIVITIES OF KSLB so far ………………

Government have posted the Special Officer on 15.01.2008
Finalized the Proforma I on 01.02.2008 and send to various District Collectors for the collection of available details on Government lands
New Email ID keralastatelandbank@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it created for faster communication
Software developed in May, 2008 for the systematic entry and retrieval of data
The first phase of data collection is on the verge of completion and data entry will be started by 01.07.2009.
Administrative sanction for Rs 3 crore for the setting up of State Land Bank has been issued vide G.O(MS) No 67/2009/RD dated 03.02.09.
Started creating database of the assignees under KLA Rules, 1964 to keep a track on the assigned Government lands and assignees. This would curb misuse of assigned land and assure there is no land assignment to same person for a second time
Sanction for the maintenance works has been entrusted with P.W.D and supply of equipments was entrusted with KELTRON for a total amount of Rs 42.9 lakhs under the Head of Account 2053-00-800-91 (the split up of the scheduled work is given in the last page) vide Commissioners letter no LR(J) 8-27288/09 dated 06.02.09 itself and the work is fast progressing. The office has already started functioning and formal data entry started on 17.08.2009.
As on 24.10.2009, 20510 textural data of number of cases has been entered in to the Data Base and digitization of the sketches is underway. The data so far entered covers an extent of 67559.83.65ha.

enefits of the Project

With the successful initiation of the project itself the Government and the public would be in a position to recognize which all are the public lands in the state
More and more Government lands would traced out with the peoples participation through valuable information from the public
The data base would act as a ready reference for the Government, to plan and formulate development programmes without going for costly acquisitions
People Participatory Eviction Approach to evict the encroachments on Government lands
Centralised control and management of leases
The Government lands will be managed and monitored in a better manner
The return from Government lands will be enhanced many fold through better management
Timely action against encroachments and time expired leases through alerting systems
More transparent land transactions by the Government will be assured

ONCLUSION

If the envisaged objectives of the KSLB are accomplished fully, there will not be any future encroachments on Government lands. The transparency on assignment of lands and leases etc., can be assured through the activities of KSLB. A strict vigil on Government lands by the proposed agency will reduce the burden of the village office / taluk office / collectorates, which are overburdened with other routine activities at present.

The market value of Government owned lands is estimated at more than Rs. 50 000 crores which warrants provision for much more budgetary allocation in the plan funds in the months to come.

a. Land Audit Officers: Tahsildars attached to different Collectorates may be assigned the task of surveillance of deposited lands in their respective jurisdiction. They should also act as source office of KSLB on activities, information and application for crediting and debiting of lands at regional level. 14 such posts of Tahsildars need to be created for this purpose. Other than the 14 posts of Tahsildars which need to be created for Land Bank activities (it may be on temporary basis for atleast one year), all the remaining posts will be on working arrangement / deployment basis – This must be provided during 2010-11 period for effectively implementing the programme as per the plan.

b. Public Land Protection Force (PLPF): Two zonal teams to be formed will be headed by officers of Sub Inspector cadre in the Kerala Police department, on deputation. Under each team there shall be 5 deputed officials in the constable cadre, from Kerala police local / traffic / excise / armed battalion / para military services. The primary function of PLPF is physical eviction of encroachments through deterrent methods.

c. Expert team: For the smooth functioning of TOLL FREE CITIZEN CALL CENTRE, the services of a team of retired experts will be made available till the system is stabilized (Maximum three months)