In a move that will further streamline land deals, Bhoomi, the computerisation of agricultural land records, will tie up with land acquisition department to prevent any property transaction that is notified for public purposes.

The project enables a prospective land purchaser to know the status of the property. Soon after the preliminary notification is issued, Bhoomi kiosk will flag the status of the property in the Record of Right, Tenancy and Crop certificate (RTC), thus leaving no room for the transaction.

Bhoomi, a comprehensive software designed by NIC, Bangalore provides for printing of land records as and when required. It incorporates process of online updation to ensure that the RTCs provided to the farmers is in sync with the time. The software enables the administrators to generate various reports based on type of soil, land holding size, type of crops grown etc. This information would enable administrators to take informed policy decision.

Currently, it is a common practice to transact a land soon after a notification is issued for land acquisition. Reason being the real estate value in the area which shoots up after a land acquisition notification is issued for any project. A ring road, highway or a formation of a residential layout will boost the value of properties in any area.

A classic example being the Outer Ring Road and Arkavathy Layout projects of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), BMIC, Devanahalli International Airport, Ring Road in Mysore and KHB housing complex in Suryanagar and Kengeri which have sky-rocked the property prices.

Hence, encashing the boom, property owners try selling off their properties for a higher price as the compensation that will be fixed by the authorities will be far lesser than the prevailing market value. Also, owners carry on construction on vacant lands to show that the buildings existed at the time of issuance of notification, which will force the authorities to denotify the land.

This initiative, where the Bhoomi project manned by the e-governance department will be linked to the land acquisition office, will prevent such transactions. As a rule no property should be transacted once preliminary land acquisition notice is issued, officials said. Hence, after the notification process, the data reaches Bhoomi centres where the mutation process is initiated in the RTCs of the concerned survey numbers.

HOW IT WORKS
Land is notified, preliminary notification issued by the land acquisition wing of any department for public purposes

Land acquisition officer will upload the acquisition details — area, survey numbers, village, hobli to the state data centre

The state data centre will transmit the information to the concerned Bhoomi centres

Taluk office will refer the information to revenue officer, who will examine the details and approve it

Details of the notification will be entered in column 11 of the RTCs of the concerned survey numbers.