Kerala survey department seeks 400 surveyors to complete pending work
Kerala's government has been advised to hire 400 surveyors and 100 head surveyors to tackle a severe backlog in land record management.
Kerala's government has been advised to hire 400 surveyors and 100 head surveyors to tackle a severe backlog in land record management.
Kerala's government has been advised to hire 400 surveyors and 100 head surveyors to tackle a severe backlog in land record management.
The Kerala government has received a formal recommendation to recruit 400 surveyors and 100 head surveyors to streamline land record management and ensure the timely resolution of property disputes. The Survey Director submitted a detailed report to the Revenue Secretary a fortnight ago, compiling requests from 14 district collectors who had collectively sought 763 surveyors and 115 head surveyors to address severe staff shortages.
The recruitment drive is urgently needed to address the mounting bottleneck in Land Records Management (LRM), which handles private property surveys and boundary disputes. The department receives an average of 25,000 LRM applications every month, but due to an acute shortage of personnel, fewer than 30 per cent of these cases are resolved within the stipulated time.
Under the current system, head surveyors are responsible for approving survey maps under the LRM. However, most taluk offices do not have a dedicated head surveyor post. To manage the heavy workload, staff from the resurvey wing are frequently redeployed on a temporary basis, which has severely disrupted the progress and accuracy of ongoing state-wide digital resurvey projects.
Currently, the department has 1,896 surveyors and 281 head surveyors across Kerala, but district-level establishments remain heavily understaffed. In addition to boundary disputes, these district teams are responsible for managing the 'Ente Bhoomi' portal—the state's integrated land management platform—as well as handling land acquisition for national highways and railway expansion, distributing land to landless citizens, conducting special land surveys, and executing court-ordered surveys.
The Director's report warns that the backlog of survey applications is causing severe financial, social, and legal distress for the public. Many applicants seek land surveys to facilitate property sales, registrations, or to secure bank loans. Delays in these official processes directly hinder families trying to raise urgent funds for weddings, higher education, medical emergencies, or home construction.