The problem
About 66% of civil litigants in DAKSH's Access to Justice survey said a land or property dispute was what took them to court. A later DAKSH survey found that most of these disputes are over agricultural land, and that around 80% concern who owns or inherits it.
DAKSH's research traces many of them to the records. Entries are inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, and some people hold land with no documents at all.
Most states now publish land records online. Each state does it differently, and a record still has to be read and checked against others before it means anything. A buyer or an heir needs a plot's records brought together, with a plain statement of what they do and do not prove.
- Who has this problem
- Farmers, families dividing inherited land, and anyone buying a plot or a home.
- Languages needed
- Hindi and regional languages
Where the demand comes from
What people do today
- The workaround
- They hire a lawyer or an agent to search records at several government offices.
- Why that fails
- Records sit in different departments and do not always agree with each other or with who actually holds the land.
How others solved it1
Products and services that work on a similar problem, in India and elsewhere.
- State land record portalsIndia
Each state publishes its own records online, in its own format.
Read and watch3
Where the facts on this page come from.
- Article8 stats from DAKSH's Access to Justice survey
Bar & Bench
- ArticleLinking of land records and e-courts
DAKSH
- ArticleUnderstanding land conflict in India and suggestions for reform
Centre for Policy Research