The Kerala State Land Bank (KSLB) is an initiative of the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

providing professional and transparent governance of lands in the public domain. This project, which commenced during the 2008-09 plan period, has been exclusively funded by the State Planning Board. The objectives of the organization include

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

, and protection of

public land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countrie ...

s, as well as revenue generation.

Objectives

As per the original objectives of the project, the KSLB will cater to the following government services in the land governance sector:

Inventorisation of public lands

Under this objective, all the public lands are being

surveyed Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Two-dimensional space#In geometry, two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of ...

and details are hosted on the official government website. This project was initiated between 2008 and 2009 and as of today, the textual database of 25841

land parcel A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes and bounds, metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented gra ...

s, a spatial database of 8313 land parcels where resurvey has been completed, and field survey using

WGS-84 The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also descri ...

datum has been completed for 278 land parcels in villages which were not resurveyed so far. The photographs of 5269 land parcels have also been uploaded on the site.

Income generation from public land

The KSLB will be the sole agency in the state which will act as the custodian of leasable and licensable government lands. The entire management of lease cases will be carried out through the Lease Alert System (LAS), which is at the final stage of implementation. This would help the government in maximizing the returns through the timely collection of leases without any lapse. Additionally, the land in the commercially important sites will be put to

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

for inviting commercial projects from

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...

agencies on the

build–operate–transfer Build–operate–transfer (BOT) or build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) is a form of project delivery method, usually for large-scale infrastructure projects, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the public sector (or the priva ...

(BOT) basis for 25–30 years. The building plans approved by the KSLB will be allowed at such sites mainly for

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

development in the state. In order to protect large areas of government land in rural areas from

encroachment Encroachment is to advance beyond proper limits, and may refer to: * Temporal encroachment * Structural encroachment * Encroachment (gridiron football), a penalty in American and Canadian football *Encroachment by human populations on natural spa ...

, tree banks will be established this year, utilizing mahogany, teak, rosewood, and sandalwood. Considering multipurpose objectives of

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

, better returns from government lands, sustainable income for the government, protection from encroachment and a measure to meet the future wood requirement of the society, this subprogram will be introduced this year under the annual activity of KSLB. During the imminent plan period, the KSLB is planning to enter a new sector wherein it will act as a land transaction consultant buying land from agencies, such as commercial banks, that are struggling to manage the attached lands during the loan recovery process. In addition, the KSLB will buy land from the open market to reduce

forced sale A partition is a term used in the law of real property to describe an act, by a court order or otherwise, to divide up a concurrent estate into separate portions representing the proportionate interests of the owners of property. It is sometimes ...

by the landowners in the state. The KSLB will then prepare a comprehensive list of salable (units of 5 cents each) lands, which will be available for landless people with visions for the development of

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

s and will be published on the land bank's website. The quota of allotment will be as per Kerala Land Assignment Rules which curb the misuse of such allotted land. The quota for each category will be fixed based on the economic and social background of the applicant and after being cleared by the respective Taluk Land Assignment Committees (TLAC). However, the proposal is still under consideration of the government.

Surveillance and protection

The KSLB, with its own machinery and with the help of local revenue officials, is undertaking the surveillance activities of the government lands. The creation of a Public Land Protection Force (PLPF) is currently at the final stage of implementation. The personnel from PLPF and the Village Officers will sign the Beat Registers to be maintained at monthly intervals so as to assure two inspections to a site in a month. A 24x7

toll-free number A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefi ...

is available for reporting encroachments of public lands by the general public and also to inform about the government lands which are left out from inclusion in the website. It is proposed to make the toll free number an

interactive voice response Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows telephone users to interact with a computer-operated telephone system through the use of voice and DTMF tones input with a keypad. In telecommunications, IVR allows customers to interact ...

system (IVRS) during the annual plan period 2012–13. Protection of government lands is also being done by erecting boards and by erecting live and non-living fences around the sites.

External links

Official website

Scheme for Protecting Public Property in Kerala Land Bank Project: Kerala - India.gov.in
Land management in India State agencies of Kerala

Objectives

Inventorisation of public lands

Income generation from public land

Surveillance and protection

See also

External links