Kerala Tips

Resurvey of land in Kerala is probably the biggest running task (the most inefficient one also) undertaken by Government of Kerala. It is running since 1966 and yet the end is nowhere in sight. Funnier is the fact that since it is running for over 40 years, most of the information is completely out of date. So instead of any benefit, it is causing unbelievable amount of torture for poor land owners in Kerala.

Consider this scenario. You are a very careful fellow and takes every precaution before you buy your piece of land. You have worked 25 years and using all your savings you are buying 8 cents of land somewhere in the outskirts of a city. Now since you are aware of land mafia and other property disputes you are careful to ensure that all documentation is in order. You look at old registration documents and new registration documents and make sure that they are in order. You look at land tax receipts and ensure that ownership is clear. You take an "Encumbrance Certificate" from sub-registrar office which guarantees that the land has no liabilities or loans against it. You even look at any pending cases against the owner. You are sure that it is all clear.

You are happy and you bought the 8 cents.

After a few months, you decide build your dream house on the plot. Your land is in a village and you approach an architect. He says that in order to build the house you need permission from the Panchayat.

Till recently permission from Panchayat was not needed. Government has brought this new requirement much to the joy of Panchayat and other government officials. Now they have new ways of getting more bribe from the poor land owners.

When you approach Panchayat, they claim that the land is not yours!! You get a shock! You had all the necessary documents, but yet it is not yours! The re-survey department is saying that the land belongs to someone else. The re-survey effectively makes all your documents invalid!

Well, it turns out that the land is re-surveyed sometime in 1970 and hence it is now in some dead guy’s name. You are now frantic. The re-survey official is very happy. He got another victim to extract bribe from. You are now being asked for thousands of documents some of which are impossible to obtain. How can you get a "no objection" certificate from a dead guy. You are gradually becoming insane…..

This, my dear friends, is called the "Re-survey torture from Kerala". It will continue till the government dismantles the so called "resurvey department".

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