Maharashtra plans to introduce a land titling law that would provide government-recognised digital property cards to owners of land, houses and flats, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said on Wednesday. The proposed law is expected to be passed during the state legislature’s winter session, according to a report by Loksatta.
The announcement would cover property holders across the state, including residents of high-rise buildings and owners of individual plots. The digital property card is intended to provide an official record of ownership, although the minister’s announcement did not specify the detailed legal process, verification requirements or timeline for issuing the cards.
Bawankule made the announcement at an event where the Maharashtra Land Bank and Mahabhumi Stack systems were formally launched. The platforms have been developed by the Revenue and Forest departments to make government services available online and to support infrastructure development projects.
The Mahabhumi Stack is expected to bring property and land-related information onto a digital platform. The report said that complete information linked to survey numbers would be available online through the system. The announcement did not provide details on the number of properties that would initially be covered, the agencies responsible for issuing the digital cards or whether existing ownership documents would need to be revalidated.
The Maharashtra Land Bank has been created on a district-wise basis to support projects such as highways, railways, bullet trains and electricity transmission lines. Under the rules governing the diversion of forest land, projects must provide either an equivalent area of non-forest land or twice the area of degraded forest land for compensatory afforestation.
According to the information presented at the event, the digital land bank includes 33,000 hectares of degraded forest land and 7,546 hectares of non-forest land held by the Revenue Department. Officials said the online availability of survey-number details would help identify suitable alternative land and speed up clearances for infrastructure projects.
Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department Vikas Kharge, Additional Chief Secretary of the Forest Department Milind Mhaiskar and Settlement Commissioner Shailesh Naval made presentations on the two systems, according to the report. The systems are being positioned as tools for more accessible and transparent online services and for faster coordination between the Revenue and Forest departments.
The proposed land titling law and the digital property-card system will require further details on the legal status of the records, the treatment of disputed properties and the implementation process. The next formal milestone identified in the announcement is consideration of the legislation during the state legislature’s winter session.
