KATHMANDU, October 11: The Department of Land Management and Archive (DoLMA) asked its line agencies including the land revenue offices to simplify the process of reregistration of the land ownership records that were burned during the Gen Z movement and following violence.
Issuing a circular on Friday, the DoLMA asked the land revenue offices to maintain the records of individually owned land based on the original land ownership certificates and citizenships. Previously, the offices directed the individuals concerned to submit a number of documents including citizenship, original land ownership certificates, recommendations of local governments, approval of relationships of three generations and legal transaction deed of land from the sellers, among others.
During the protests of September 9, land revenue offices across the country were vandalized and set on fire. The land revenue office, which had mostly registered land deeds and had been burned down, had requested the submission of evidence in accordance with Section 21 of the Land Administration Directive 2024.
Citing the possible hassles to the land owners, the minister-level meeting of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation on Friday took the decision to simplify the requirements to claim the ownerships. The Ministry’s Spokesperson Ganesh Bhatta said the previous notices based on the directive seem to create many difficulties to the people, which have prompted the government to review its decision.
Around one million units of the government maintained documents related to lands were burned to ashes in the arson attacks at various land revenue offices across the country during the protests. The Land Reform and Land Revenue Office in Nepalgunj has been completely destroyed by fire, while most of the documents at Kalanki Land Revenue Office, Kaski Land Revenue Office, Land Reform and Land Revenue Office Ghorahi, Land Revenue Office Tulsipur and Bharatpur Land Revenue Office have been burnt. A total of 15 land revenue offices have suffered partial damages.
The land owners may also submit field book and plot registers in Land Survey Offices, land records maintained at the local governments and receipts of property taxes paid to the authorities that are updated in the land mapping system to claim their property ownerships. The actual owners of land however have to present themselves before the concerned government offices for the entire process, according to the DoLMA.