ARGHAKHANCHI: The Land Revenue Office (LRO), Arghakhanchi has stopped registration and transfer of land since the last one week to probe discrepancies in plot sizes on the land ownership certificates and cadastral maps.

The LRO said it had put things on hold upon orders from the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management. Transfer of land located on the sides of roads in the district headquarters and auxiliary roads and urbanizing areas has been halted.

“We have received a directive from the ministry stating that the decision has been taken by a minister-level meeting,” said Shyam Bahadur Gharti, land revenue officer at the LRO. “We have stopped transferring land ownership since Dec 29.” He added that it was not clear when the ban would be lifted.

He said that the transfer of land ownership was stopped after complaints were received that the same plot of land has been registered in the names of two persons and public land has been encroached upon.

He added that the ministry had been forced to stop land transactions after the plot measurements on the land revenue certificates and cadastral maps were found to be different. “We have not been registering the transactions of land in the district headquarters Sandhikharka and areas around the headquarters and on the Sandhikharka-Gorusinge road and the main and auxiliary roads of the district headquarters.” 

As property ownership details of the district were destroyed during the conflict period, encroachment of private and public land for development into residential plots has increased.

However, Gharti said that they had not stopped registration of land in rural areas. He added that the ban on land registration might be lifted if the political parties addressed the issue and made efforts to solve the problems.

A fresh cadastral survey is being conducted in five village development committees of the district, but work has not begun in the district headquarters. The LRO has been transferring land ownership based on the details provided by the land owners and the consensus reached with the buyers. Public land has been encroached upon with the backing of the political parties.

The ordinary people have suffered from the ban on the transfer of land ownership. Narayan Regmi, chief of the special survey office, said that they would first complete their work in the villages and then deal with the district headquarters.

Mohan Singh Thakuri, a businessmen of Sandhikharka, said that people had been inconvenienced greatly due to the ban on land registration and transfer. “Land transactions have been at a standstill in the town area,” he said.

General Secretary of the Arghakhanchi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Netra Bhusal said that stopping land transactions was not good, and the chamber would make efforts to have the ban lifted.

source: the kathmandu post,6 jan 2014