Only 10 per cent of about 4 lakh people who purchased plots in the past eight months could get automatic mutation as sellers could not produce updated land records during registration.

The revelation has established the apprehensions that majority of the landowners in Bengal, particularly in rural areas, don’t have updated records.

The scheme, automatic mutation, was launched by the state government about eight months ago to encourage buyers to force landowners for going for mutation first before selling off plots. This would have helped the state update land records and the buyers would have been benefited by getting mutation certificates within 48 hours.

“The automatic mutation is possible when the landowner’s name is registered in land records by completing the mutation process. As it was not mandatory for selling land (one can also sell plots by producing title deeds known as dalils), people have not gone for mutation as it involved a fee and lot of paperworks,” said a senior government official.

Sources in the government said if the scheme was successful, it would have benefited the state in many ways.

First, it could have helped the state plan development projects that require land in a better way.

“The state is finding it difficult to buy land for projects as it is not clear who the current owners of the plots are because of unavailability of updated records,” said a source.

Second, handling complaints of land grab by forging documents (mainly title deeds or dalils) as the updated records would have biometric data of the owners. So, the sale of plots by forging title deeds would have been a thing of the past.

“It appears people are still ignorant and reluctant about updating land records. We should undertake campaigns to make people aware of the need of updating land records,” said an official.

The sources also said people in the state were not aware that updated land records could be the most important document to establish their stay in the country in the backdrop of fear of an NRC-like exercise across the country.

“Land records were one of the most important documents during the NRC exercise in Assam. People here are scurrying to update their Aadhaar cards, but they are ignorant of their most important documents,” said an official.

It is not that one cannot submit land records, which were inherited from parents, to establish their claims. “But it is always safe to submit updated records as it might not be possible to validate the claims of inheritance during a rush,” said an official.

Sources at Nabanna said the government might launch a massive campaign to make people aware of the importance of updating land records. “The state government has made mutation of agricultural plot inherited from family absolutely free. We should encourage people to go for mutation of such plots immediately,” said another official.