Thiruvananthapuram: In a landmark in land registration process, owners of multiple landholdings will be allotted a single 'thandaper', i.e., a unique revenue record of a property instead of multiple ones as has been the practice so far. The unique thandaper system with Aadhaar linkage will come into effect from Monday, May 16, with its launch in the State Capital.
With an individual being allotted a single thandaper number for all land holdings in one's name, finding the ownership of land across the State will be made easier. The single thandaper number will allow the revenue department to find the land holdings of a person, even if his/her properties are scattered across the State.
Under the unique thandaper regime, parcels of land a person owns in the State will be provided a 13-digit unique thandaper number. Currently, most villages are providing single- to five-digit numbers, and if an individual has land in more than one village, s/he will have different thandapers.
The department aims at ensuring convenience and transparency in obtaining land-related details with the new system. The new system is expected to curb illegal land transactions.
The module for the single thandaper system has been developed on the ReLIS software of the Kerala revenue department. (ReLIS stands for Revenue Land Information System.)
As part of the radical changes in the land registration process being effected nationwide land records will be linked with the Aadhaar — the biometric ID system as per which a 12-digit random number is assigned to all Indian residents.
The Kerala Revenue Department officials, however, confirmed that the unique thandaper system will come into existence even without Aadhaar linkage.
Aadhaar need not be linked in a hurry, the officials stated.
The State's move to link Aadhaar with thandaper, a first in the country, is also intended to implement the Supreme Court-set guidelines on Aadhaar.
Currently, an individual in Kerala could own up to 7.5 acres, and a family could hold up to 15 acres. Excess land, if any, in the possession or family, could be taken over as additional land, and distributed to the landless under the Land Reforms Act.
In case of collective ownership of a single property, the Aadhaar numbers of all the owners will have to be linked with the thandaper.
The formula used to identify land to provide a single thandaper number will be based on the percentage of total area.
How to link Aadhaar with thandaper
A landowner can easily link Aadhaar with thandaper on one's smartphone. Ensure that it is done using the same phone number used for Aadhaar registration.
The linking can be done by ratifying one's identity with the OTP sent to the phone soon after commencing the linking process on the revenue portal.
The linking can be done at the village office too. Here one should first scan the fingerprints on the biometric system. The village officer will allot the unique thandaper after scrutiny. Subsequently, details of all properties in one's name should be linked to the unique thandaper.
Landowners yet to get the Aadhaar may continue using the current thandaper. The land records should be linked once the Aadhaar is obtained.
Unique number different from Aadhaar
Revenue Department officials said the plan is not to add the 12-digit Aadhaar number as it is to thandaper. Instead, the planned system will automatically generate a new number once the Aadhaar details are linked to a specially created module on ReLIS.
The department clarified that the system will not save the Aadhaar details of the land owner(s). The details will be used to identify the owner(s) using the KYC submissions.
For more details, visit: https://www.revenue.kerala.gov.in/
Also read: Kerala to seek owner's consent to link land documents with Aadhaar
