Cadastral surveys in India: A critique

Cadastral surveys in India: A critique

Prof. Prabhakar Mishra
Consultant
Kampsax India Ltd.
809, Phase V, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon 122016, Haryana
Tele: 0124-6348259/60/61/62
Email: misralit@hotmail.com

Introductory Remarks
Cadastral surveys are a class by themselves and quite different from any ther concept of large scale surveys as a professional surveyor would normally experience. Cadastral surveys are important because invariabl these surveys are linked with the ownership of the property. In fact, it is through these surveys that the important link between man and the land is established. The depiction of legal and topographical aspects including the precise area of the land becomes more intense if the same surveys pertain to the urban/town properties.

The process of Cadastral Surveys for which the modern technology is always taken advantage of to increase the productivity, takes much lower priority in comparison to the legal aspects which are connected with the record of rights, khasra, khatauni etc. The professional revenue - oriented person in the District, therefore, believes that "We are doing things right but not the right things" Peter Drucker Management Guru

A revenue person would also like to see marked and substantial progress on the legal side of the Cadastral surveys on the assumption that Cadastral Surveys are 10% mapping and 90% records generation.

Importance of Cadastral Surveys due to fast development activities out of date revenue records/maps
The indifferent (out of date, in many cases inaccurate) surveys and cadastral records are the major bottlenecks in the acquisition of land. Town Planners, Highway Planners/Engineers and other agencies connected with the acquisition of land have concluded that one of the major factors for delay in the execution of a land related project is the lack of information about the land.

The surveys done by the modern methods of photogrammetry, GPS and Total stations etc. have to be joined to the property which must legally be identified on the revenue map, the legal document of the Northern and Central States or the Field Measurement Book which is the legal document of the Southern States. The joining of the modern surveys with the old revenue maps is the 'Achillies heal' of the whole process. An attempt towards solving this problem is mentioned elsewhere in this paper.

Historical Background
Revenue surveys were initiated by East India Company towards the end of 18th Century primarily to establish the 'domain of their influence' through the collection of revenue from the estates. These estates were scattered as such only village boundaries were established by traverse method of surveying. The inside details of properties were left to local surveys. Survey of India as a Dept. of Govt. of India established in 1767, was fully involved in the process till 1904.

Following the recommendation of the 1904 Committee of Govt. of India, the cadastral surveys were delegated (in my opinion, abdicated!) to the States. The States evolved their own legal system of revenue surveys. The Northern States of U.P., M.P., Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab had 'graphical output' of surveys as the legal document whereas the Southern states recognised Field Measurement Book (FMB) as the legal document. There was very little input from Survey of India. The result was that survey of India took to first aerial survey in Malda district of Bengal which was carried out in 1929 to produce revenue maps on 16 inches to 1 mile scale. But no serious attempt was made to transfer the technology to the States.Then again during 1939-1945 war Survey of India adopted air-survey methods and later photogrammertry in 1954. The situation regarding the technology in the States remained the same as was available in 1904.

Later, in 1964, the first State Cadastral Surveys Conference was held in Mussoorie which was motivated by the concept that State Dept of Settlement Surveys and Land Records should exchange ideas on the subject to provide technical solutions to, for example, town surveys etc. The conferences have been regularly held but the progress has been rather slow in substance. The author while serving Survey of India organised a Demonstration Seminar for the technology of Aerial Photography, Photogrammetry, Photo rectification and Records management etc. in 1973. The Govt. of India (Ministry of Rural Development) has now taken up computerization of records and introduction of other relevant technologies in fairly enthusiastic manner. This has been motivated, it is felt, due to the success of Madhya Pradesh in utilizing the aerial photography and rectification process for substituting their plane-table (graphical records), improving their record keeping systems and making the whole system farmer - friendly. This process of technology-transfer from Indian Institute of Remote sensing to the Commissioner of Land Records, Gwalior has been a successful example of transfer of technology.

The area where one does not see much progress is town-surveys. The present methodology of town-surveys is so slow that a young surveyor starts the surveys but is not able to come out of the surveys till he tires or retires. It is like Abhimanyu entering the Chakraviyuh - can enter but will not come out!

Observations and Suggestions
The problems of the existing system of land records and cadastral surveys have been lucidly enunciated by the following papers in April issue of GIS Development:

Designing a National LIS - Nori, Chardrasekhar
Computerisation of Land Records - Rai Kuldip and Bhalla, D.K. of Ministry of Rural Development
Land Records Computerization - Rao, T. Raja Shekhar, P. Raj
Geomancy of Village Development - The GIS Way - Ahuja, Brig J.S.

A thorough reading of the papers and the long association of the author with the cadastral survey systems of India specially Madhya Pradesh gives rise to the following observations:

Management of change; Technological and Social
In case the realistic solutions have to be found, the approach has to be in the realm of 'management of change'. The basics of the body of knowledge of management of change - which is quite vast now should embrace the following guiding points. The change should be:
 Right, technically/professionally
 Acceptable, socially
 Feasible, economically

Most of the time, specially professional persons plead for the technology without taking its social impact and expenditure. The experience of the Computerization of Land Records support this view.

The 'betterness' of change is always to be proven, so to say. This proof should come in the form of the productivity i.e. less cost, more accuracy, more reliable etc.
First, go for More Reliable Data Base
Madhya Pradesh switched to the rectified photo prints in 1981. The productivity increased many times. Specifically, time taken to produce the graphical document was reduced to less than half, cost was reduced to one third. The photo of the land was the most accurate witness to the land on the day of the photography. The acceptability of the technology was instant, because the traditional process of generating land - records was not disturbed. There was no fear of losing jobs Digital Orthophoto The present day technology of orthophotomapping can be resorted to even in undulating terrain where 'rectification' 'process' does not give accurate result. The digital orthophophoto mapping will also give digitized data base in addition to the photo-record.

Technically, the process of digital photo-mapping will be a simpler process in comparison to the photogrammetry. This task can be outsourced to a large number of firms which have generated capability for this technique. Even otherwise, the technique can be easily transferred to the States.

Fiscal Records should continue to be generated by the staff of the Land Records Dept. The present system of computerisation of the records can then continue in a smoother way.

Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for village trijunctions
Village trijunctions are permanent marks on the ground most of which are likely to be intact. Differential GPS coordinates in terms of World Geodetic System (WGS) can be provided to the available Trijunctions. These coordinates and GPS stations will prove useful for precision aerial photography and to control digital orthophoto-mapping operations.

At one time Survey of India topograhical maps used to show all trijunctions on the map. This practice was stopped in fifties. It is recommended that trijunctions should be shown on 1:25000 maps of Survey of India.

Without going into more details of the papers, the following suggestions are made for the benefit of Cadastral Surveys in India.
Second, Utilize Internet Technology for Transfer and Utilization of Data Base to District/Tehsils
Security of Data
Here security of data will have a major consideration. Modern security methods practised in IT should be adopted. Know - How is available in many IT firms, NIC and other Govt. Depts.

Updating of Information
The process of collection of changes can be initiated at Patwari/Karnam level. The data should be checked and collated at Tehsil HQ and then sent to Land Record office for final incorporation after digitizing. Director Land Records should take final responsibility of correctness - may be after sample check. Mutations should always be carried out by the person maintaining the records. Mutations can be incorporated in digitized revenue map with Tehsil/HQ

Record Book to the Farmer at Tehsil Level
The Patta Book/ Ownership book can be prepared at Tehsil level with the usual checks and passed on to the, farmer. The Patta Book named 'Rin Pustika' in M.P. is a versatile document used by the different agencies like Banks, Seed Corporation and others.
Third - Incorporate Other Desirable Information
Many suggestions have been made regarding Soil type of land Heights for irrigation channels Land use Cropping pattern Live stock Population Ground water etc.

These information can be incorporated in separate layers (like GIS) eventually. But this should be done only after the basic Data Base has been prepared.
Fourth - Village Abadi Maps / Photos
Panchayats and other planning agencies will need village Abadi/built up area maps for development activities like drains, road work. A photo-map of the village at 1:5000 scale will be adequate for the tasks.

The above mentioned four steps to generate the Data Bases could form an adequate input for any scheme like CLR or for any type of querry on land-referms. The Data Base can be further modified to suit local requirements.

Town Maps - Innovative use of Photogrammetry
The most worrisome problem experienced by the State surveyors in town surveys is to provide traverse control-net by the traditional traverse method. This problem can be elegantly solved by utilizing the technology of the Photogrammetry. Photogrammetry needs sparse ground control and that too at convenient locations. With the help of the limited field control, the model can be set in the photogrammetric machine. The plotting of all the clearly visible terrain details can be done easily. Imagine that about 50% of the property corners or well recognized details are plotted/mapped. These details can then be utilized as control work/starting point for picking up property on the ground by the field surveyors. This is rather reverse - use of the photogrammetry but it will reduce the time taken for the completion of town surveys by more than 50%. The plotted points can be designed to be within the accuracy of 7 to 10 cms. on the scale of 1:2000.

Urban Cadastral System - Change in Registration Law
The Value of the land being more in urban areas, the accuracy of the urban surveys should be such that difference in the measurement of the area or length of sides/perimeter of urban property should not be different when measured on ground or on the map. If the difference is noticeable, there can be serious litigation on the issue of the area of the property. The area etc. can be measured accurately if modern methods e.g. orthophoto or photogrammetry is harnessed for surveys. The ownership, however, still eludes the genuine transaction. The solution, perhaps, lies in improving the Registration Act.

Registration Act, 1864
Registers the document and not the contents. To quote Sadar Adalat Court 1832 interpreted: "It is sufficiently obvious that registry by Collector cannot confer title, and converse proposition, namely want of registration cannot take away title to the landed property." Courts have held: "Patta does not create any interests to the land, howsoever valuable it may be as an evidence of possession, and is only a memorandum showing the extent of land belonging to Pattadar and assessment."

It is interesting to read the comments of Mr. Hanson, HA in Land Title System, 1961 for New Brunswick, Canada."the existing system is in its nature and use cumbersome, expensive, time consuming delaying, deceptive, defective, inadequate, incomplete inept, imperfect, uncertain, unprofitable, undesirable, unsuitable and downright stupid. It requires drastic treatment to bring it into conformity with modern need"Readers can make their own conclusions on Indian Registration Act, 1864 (!)

Conclusion
This paper tries to give 'description' of the major problems in Cadastral Surveys including Urban Cadastre. Certain other issues like Registration Act have also been described.

On the 'prescription' side, the appropriate and selected use of digital orthophotomapping, photogrammetry, Global Positioning System, use of Internet Technology etc. have been recommended to provide optimum advantage to the Indian Cadastral System. The clear message isData Base to day, other improvements tomorrow.

More importantly the problems inherent in Cadastral Surveys have been visualized as problem of change - management rather than simply as problems of technology. A brief list of technological solutions has also been furnished.