Create digital platform to keep forest land records: Karnataka HC directs state

BENGALURU: While laws like the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 mandate that any diversion of forest land for non-forest use requires prior approval from the Central Government, illegal diversion still occurs in some areas, leading to degradation and loss of forest cover, said the Karnataka High Court while directing the State government to create a central integrated geospatial platform to maintain the forest land records. The integrated platform should combine the data of all types of lands, including the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN), said Justice Suraj Govindaraj, while issuing a series of directions and dismissing a batch of petitions involving the dispute revolving around the layouts formed in Devanahalli taluk for which the notices have been issued by forest department. While Karnataka has made significant strides in land records modernisation, the current situation proves that digitisation alone is insufficient. The critical failure is the lack of a single, unified source of truth. The Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) has been a significant initiative, succeeding in computerising land records and integrating Sub-Registrar Offices with land records, the court said. The court also directed the state government to set up an inter-departmental land dispute resolution cell under the supervision of the Chief Secretary. This cell should contain the representatives from the revenue department, forest department, and urban planning department, to mediate and issue binding inter-departmental orders on the issue of conflicting forest land records. The court said that the integrated platform should have an automated system to streamline the land-related applications to ensure that no land-related action is taken without the mandatory, real-time verification against the unified land database. Giving an example, the court said that deputy commissioners or planning authorities would have to be legally barred from processing any land conversion or layout sanction applications until the automated system performs a check against the integrated forest map.