Key to end disorder in Karnataka

Many keep forgetting, but let’s remind them: the archaic land laws have debilitated economic development of the state. Piling up litigations, entrepreneurs’ fear of walking into a landmine of legal traps proves the single most important stumbling block for the industrial development. The government should be persuaded to revisit the Law so that both the sellers and buyers benefit and no ill-will rankled in the mind of the people involved.

It is little consolation that land reforms in India have been a widely debated issue in terms of policy formulations and its implementation. In the years immediately following India’s independence, land reforms were visualised as an important pillar of a strong and prosperous country. In the first several five-year plans, substantial budgetary amounts were allocated for the implementation of land reforms. However, even after many years, several problems remain unresolved as is evident from the numerous litigations pertaining to property that are pending in various courts or the agitations that have taken place with regards to land acquisition in various parts of the country , Singur and Nandigram being prime examples. Land is primarily a state subject and although Karnataka has been amongst the more progressive states when it comes to land reforms, there are many issues that hamper the development and growth of the state.

For any business, land is the fundamental raw material. Land holdings in the state are very fragmented and even in a relatively small parcel of 10 acres, there could be as many 50 owners. All lands by default are agricultural lands and no company or even an individual who is not an agriculturalist is permitted to buy or own agricultural land in Karnataka. Restrictions on land use and requirement for conversion or change of land use create artificial scarcity. Also, there is no form of title insurance in our country as is available in more developed nations. All of the above makes land not only prohibitively expensive but also a very risky proposition.

In the past, the government, through statutory bodies such as KIADB, have facilitated acquisition of land for industrial use. This has resulted in very successful hubs such as Whitefield and Electronic City. Land allotted by government has the added benefit of having a “perfect title”. Many companies have made use of this route to acquire land for their businesses as this also gives companies the much needed insurance against any future litigations. However, this route has been misused by politicians hand in glove with shady real estate companies to acquire land cheap from poor land owners, for their own self interest. Due to this, the government is now hesitant to acquire land for companies even with genuine requirement.

— P Ravindra Pai is the managing director of Century Real Estate Holdings Pvt Ltd