Now get ready to link Aadhaar with your land records as Centre writes to states

After bank accounts, the government of India is planning to link all land records with the owners' 12-digit Aadhaar number under the Digital India Land Records Modernization Program (DILRMP).

Sources, familiar with Centre's plan, said linking of land records and Aadhaar number of the owner is being considered as a valuable step towards exposing benami properties. The government hopes to bring transparency in land records, they said.

Linking of properties with Aadhaar will make it easier for the authorities to identify the owner of the property. Even basic investigation will help the authorities find out whether owner is a benami or real owner of the property.

The government believes that digitisation of land records and linking the same with Aadhaar will also be beneficial in terms of bank loan provisions and crop insurance for farmers across the country.

CENTRE WRITES TO STATES

The central government has written to all the state governments and the Union Territories asking them to digitise "land records, mutation records, sale and purchase records from year 1950- of any immovable property (see section 2 of the Income Tax Act 1961 and subsequently amended) including land (agricultural and non agricultural), houses (independent or Society) etc by 14 August 2017."

The Centre's letter further says that the government, "by an Act of Parliament, is considering linking Aadhaar numbers with the ownership of said properties. The properties which are not linked shall be considered for appropriate action under the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016."

The letter was issued on June 15 and addressed to Chief Secretaries of states and UTs, Additional Chief Secretaries of state and UTs, Lt Governor Delhi, NITI Aayog and a copy was also sent to the Prime Minister's Office for record.

WHAT TO FOLLOW

The Centre has asked the states and Union Territories to send suggestions, if any, with regard to the proposal to link land records with Aadhaar to the Prime Minister's Office directly.

In states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, 

Maharashtra, the respective land revenue departments have already made their records online. The process of linking the land records with Aadhaar is underway in these states.

In Andhra Pradesh, all the land records are being linked to Aadhaar numbers of the Pattadars.