Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury
Former Secretary, Ministry of Land
Land has been the most valuable resource in Bangladesh since time immemorial when the economy was totally dependent on agriculture and revenue from land was the major source of income for the state. Since the second half of the 20th century progressively land has become a scarce resource in this country because of the manifold increase in the size of the population of this small country. Urbanization, development of physical infrastructure at various levels and sizes and expansion and proliferation of human settlements in the rural areas is increasingly eating up agricultural lands, wetlands and forest lands- –even open public spaces like grazing lands, parks and playgrounds.
Population increase, very high demand for land and the government’s failure to regularly conduct survey and settlement operations to update land records has created a totally unsatisfactory and grossly corrupt land management system in the country. Printed records of the Cadastral Survey operations and the Revisional Settlement operations of the colonial times are stored in damp and crowded record rooms of the offices of the Deputy Commissioners. Collectorate record rooms are in pitiable condition and are dens of forgery and tampering of records. The network of people involved in this rent seeking operation are diverse and includes officials, minor functionaries in land administration and land records preparation in the country. This “profitable” occupation has attracted a very large number of whole time touts and middlemen who are collectively playing havoc with the system at their sweet will. The lengthy legal system has only accentuated the problem and created opportunities for land grabbers with enough cash to do anything they want since poor land owners do not have the money or capacity to fight them through the hierarchical court system.
The situation would greatly improve if the land records can be modernized through digitization. The Regulatory Reforms Commission set up by the Caretaker Government of 2006-08 constituted a committee to recommend measures for modernization of land records. I was Convenor of that committee. We examined the problems in all its ramifications and also visited India to see their digitization programme in Pune and Kolkata. The committee prepared a report which was submitted to the government in 2008 after approval by the RRC. Nothing has happened since then.
Some experimental digitization of a limited nature was done in Demra and Manikganj at the initiative of the concerned Deputy Commissioners but that too has not been expanded by the Government for unknown reasons. Even if this was taken up, the process would take anything from 30-50 years because of resource constraints making a mockery of modernization. Some donors, including the EU, are reported to have shown interest in the matter but the involvement of donors with their own ideas will neither end in a satisfactory solution of the problem nor will this be completed within a reasonable time frame- say 10 years or less. That would make the modernization effort obsolete even before it is completed.
An acceptable and probably efficient way forward would be to undertake the digitization of the land records and computerization of the land administration at all levels of administration, — as I have always advocated and the RRC and my committee members agreed, — would be to do it using sufficiently large number of private operators for technical services so that after a one year pilot project it can be scaled up to cover the entire country in the shortest possible time. Private operators will provide technical support for scanning of all old records, making DVDs of that material so that sets can be preserved in various offices at present involved in the creation or management of these of records- offices of AC Land, DCs, District Judges, Commissioners of Divisions, Board of Land Administration, DG Land Records and Surveys, Land Ministry and also all offices of the Registration Department. Once this is done the first step would be completed to prevent tampering of records by unscrupulous persons and groups. One set of the manuscript records can be centrally preserved in a Land Ministry Archive which should have modern facilities for paper record preservation.
All mouza maps created through CS or RS operations should be similarly scanned and DVDs created for preservation at various locations- DC’s offices, office of DG Land Records and Surveys, Board of Land Administration and the Ministry of Land. Scanned copies of maps would then be digitized and vectorised so that these maps become live maps for incorporating changes caused by partitions/divisions, erosion and accretion (using satellite maps for both) and changes in land classifications. Conversion of the maps will make it possible to update the map on a regular basis at the Upazilla level and ever y five years a new map can be prepared without resorting to a costly and time consuming mouza survey as is done now.
Scanned RS records (one which is now being used in any district) would then be converted into word documents by the vendor by engaging computer operators unless a soft ware can be developed for automatic conversion. The word document s would require printing and countersigning by authorized land management officials with appropriate stamps/seals. These then would be scanned and saved in DVDs like the originals to ensure integrity of the records.
Next step will be to change the records into plot by plot records of rights by hearing the owners as listed in the RS records. These would then be published as draft records by amending the survey and settlement rules. All recorded owners would be required to come to the vendor’s office for taking their digital photographs which too would be incorporated in the Record of Rights (RoR). The operation would then move on to objection and appeal stages as is the case now to finalize the records. Once the process is completed the RoR of a mauza would be published and would be made available on the website fo the DG LR&S and that of the DC of the concerned district.
The cost of scanning and conversion of maps would have to borne by the government. Cost of scanning of old RoRs would also have to be borne by the government. But the conversion of the latest RS record from scanning to finalization would be collected from the land owners. An equitable system will be to divide 10% of the the total cost among the recorded land owners at an equal rate. Remaining 90% should be divided by the total land area of the mauza to ascertain the per decimal cost. Land owner(s) would then pay according land holding and get a digital laminated RoR with photograph(s) of owner (s) to make it equitable.
A system of land valuation will also have to be introduced which we suggested in our report along with a simultaneous correction of records at the time of sale or transfer and within a fixed time period where the land is inherited by family members on the death of the recorded owner.