Govt plans ID numbers for all land plots; Aadhar, bank linkage by March 2022

Srinagar: In a major development – already being described as ‘Aadhar for Land’ – the central government plans to issue a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country, including Jammu & Kashmir, by March 2022.

Under the plan, the Government intends to integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers ‘on a voluntary basis’, according to a Parliamentary Standing Committee report submitted to the Lok Sabha last week.

While the committee report suggests that after allocation of the Unique Identification Number, linkage with Aadhar and bank accounts is voluntary, a Supreme Court lawyer, specialising in land issues in the country, told Ziraat Times that this plan would, ultimately, lead to automatic linkage between land numbers, Aadhar and bank accounts.

The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the Department of Land Resources told the Standing Committee on Rural Development.

In Jammu & Kashmir, a senior Revenue Department official told Ziraat Times, the scheme will be launched this year, considering that the digitization of the existing land records is almost complete, and that work is soon to be started for the allocation of unique identification numbers to all parcels of land.

Moreover, a land record room is being planned in every district cost about ₹50 lakh per district, while some budget is also being allocated for the integration of land records with the Revenue Court Management System under Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). DILRMP’s next phase would include “linkage of land record database with banks”.

On the costs of the exercise, the Government told the Parliamentary Committe, that linking Aadhaar with land records through ULPIN would cost ₹3 per record, while seeding and authentication of landowner Aadhaar data would cost ₹5 each. It added that the integration of the Aadhaar numbers with the land record database would be done on a voluntary basis.

“These components will enhance the service deliveries to the citizen of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like Agriculture, Finance Disaster Management etc,” the Department told the panel, adding that ULPIN has been recommended by the Sectoral Group of Secretaries.