Dotted Lands Explained [UPSC Current Affairs]

The Andhra Pradesh government has started the process of removing dotted lands from the prohibited list in order to enable the farmers who own land the dotted lands to sell or pledge them. In this context, we explain what is meant by dotted lands, and why the AP government made this decision regarding dotted lands, from the IAS exam perspective.

Dotted Lands

Dotted lands are a kind of disputed land where there is no clear documentation of ownership.

• Generally in a dotted land, the ownership is claimed by one or more persons or the government’s Revenue Department also lays claim over the land.
• Dotted lands got their name during the British era when the local revenue officials during land ownership surveys, put dots on the ownership column when there is a dispute in the ownership claim or there is no clearly established ownership.
• Thus the dots in the resettlement register or land records register indicate the disputed status of the land.
• Banks or other financial institutions will not accept the dotted land documents as collateral.

Reason for the emergence of ownership disputes:

• The major reasons for the emergence of ownership disputes are:
  • Lack of clear wills by landowners to pass the land to their heirs or children.          
  • When more than one heir lay claim over the land.
  • The government claimed the land but was under the occupation of a private party.
• Certain land records are older than 100 years and are locked in the prohibited list of the registers.
• So far the Andhra Pradesh state government has identified more than 2,06,171 acres of dotted land and the officials claim that it could be as high as 10 lakh acres. 
• Nellore district has the most significant number of dotted land parcels (43,000 acres), followed by Prakasam district (37,000 acres).

Benefits of Removing Dotted Lands from the Prohibited List

• Recently the government introduced a bill to amend the revenue act in order to grant titles to the farmers who have been cultivating the dotted land for more than 12 years.
• Around 97000 farmers are expected to get ownership documents and the dots in the land registers will be removed.
• With the establishment of clear ownership of land, the farmers will be able to sell the land or use it as collateral to obtain loans from banks or other financial institutions.
• The farmers can also apply for financial assistance for crop support, purchase of seeds and fertilisers and procurement of farm equipment.

Need for the exercise:

• In the past years, over 100000 applications have been received by the officials to resolve dotted land disputes.
• Due to dotted lands, the government loses stamp duty revenue and other taxes since they are sold illegally and houses have been constructed.
• The Chief Minister has said that the registration value of the 2,06,171 acres is over Rs 8,000 crore while the land value is over Rs 20,000 crore.

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