The Kerala State Land Bank is an initiative of Government of Kerala, India, towards 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, surveillance and protection of public lands, as well as revenue generation.
As per the original objectives of the project it will cater the following services to Government in the land governance sector:
Inventorisation of public lands: Under this objective all the public lands are being surveyed and details are hosted on the website www.kslb.kerala.gov.in. This project was started in the year 2008-09 and as on today, textual database of 25841 land parcels, spatial data base of 8313 land parcels where resurvey has been completed and field survey using WGS-84 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 in 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 / 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 timely collection of leases without any lapse. Besides, the land in the commercially important sites will be put to auction for inviting commercial projects from Public Sector agencies on BOT basis for 25–30 years. The building plans approved by KSLB, will alone be allowed at such sites mainly towards infrastructure development in the state. Towards protecting large extents Government lands in rural areas from encroachment, with a better public attention, Tree Banks will be established this year with trees like Mahogany, Teak, Rosewood and Sandal wood. Considering multipurpose objectives of environmental protection, better returns from Government lands, sustainable income for the Government, protection from encroachment and a measure to meet future wood requirement of the society, this sub programme will be introduced this year under the annual activity of KSLB. During the imminent plan period, KSLB is planning to enter a new sector wherein the KSLB will act as Land Transaction consultants in the Government sector which will buy land from agencies like Commercial Banks who are finding it difficult to manage the attached lands during loan recovery process. In addition, the KSLB will buy land from open market to reduce forced / distress sale by the land owners in the state. The KSLB after the inventorisation process is going to prepare a comprehensive list of saleable [Units of 5 cents each] lands. Such Government lands which will be available for the low / medium / high income group of landless people with a vision on development of rural areas. The exhaustive list of such lands will be on display on the website www.kslb.kerala.gov.in and in media also, that the people can apply for such notified land. This type of allotment, based on the quota of allotment will be as per Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964 which curbs the misuse of such allotted land. The quota for each category will be fixed based on economic and social backwardness of the applicant and after being cleared by the respective Taluk Land Assignment Committees [TLAC]. However, the proposal is still under the consideration of the Government.
Surveillance and protection: The KSLB with its own machinery and with the help of local revenue officials has been undertaking the surveillance activities of the Government lands. Towards giving a new impetus to this activity, creation a Public Land Protection Force (PLPF) is in the anvil and is at the final stage of implementation. The personnel from PLPF and the Village Officers will sign the Beat Registers to be kept near the on monthly intervals so as to assure two inspections to a site in a month.
A 24x7 toll-free number 1800 425 5255 has already been established towards reporting of 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 System [IVRS] during the annual plan period 2012-13. Protection of Government lands is also being done by erecting Boards and by erecting live / non living fences around the sites.
