Gujarat Launches Uniform System to Fix Land Survey Errors in Villages

The decision came following directions issued by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during a high-level meeting of the revenue department on Wednesday.​

The decision aims to address objections raised by farmers following land surveys conducted during the promulgation process and to ensure transparent, accurate resolution of such cases while protecting the interests of rural landholders.​

Officials said the state will undertake land demarcation using a structured approach and introduce a standard procedure for handling correction requests arising from measurement discrepancies in agricultural land records.​

The initiative is expected to ease administrative processes related to land records and support the ease of doing business in rural areas.​

As part of the plan, 'Land Demarcation Committees' will be established in every district under the chairmanship of the district collector.​

These committees will review and monitor land demarcation work and the disposal of applications seeking correction of survey errors.​

The district-level committees will include the resident additional collector, SLR or deputy director of the land records office, the prant officer, officials from the District Inspector of Land Records (DILR), mamlatdar, taluka development officer, land acquisition officer, and representatives of agencies involved in land acquisition, including the Sardar Sarovar Punarvasvat Agency, where applicable.​

To ensure systematic handling of applications received after promulgation, the revenue department has categorised cases into seven groups.​

These include cases where no reduction in government or public land has occurred, and no objections have been raised; cases where no reduction has occurred, and no objections remain pending; and cases where objections are pending despite no reduction in government land.​

Additional categories cover cases where government or public land has been reduced and objections are pending, villages where more than 30 per cent of survey numbers show changes in possession, cases where objections are limited to a specific area of a village, and cases involving changes in area in more than 30 per cent of survey numbers resulting in cascading effects and significant changes in land shape.​

A separate category has been defined for villages where promulgation has not yet taken place.​

The chief minister also directed that complex issues arising from survey error corrections should be resolved quickly and that applicants should not have to repeatedly visit government offices.​

To facilitate this, additional powers have been delegated to taluka development officers and mamlatdars.​

Such cases will be addressed through Mobile Magistrate Court Committees, which will take action in accordance with Sections 119 and 120 of the Gujarat Land Revenue Act and Rules 21(1), 21(2) and 21(3) of the Gujarat Land Revenue Rules, 1972.​

Officials said the revenue department has been instructed to ensure that the majority of survey-related correction issues are resolved quickly and transparently through a uniform statewide procedure so that citizens experience effective governance in land administration.​

- IANS