Meghalaya Land Records

Meghalaya land records preparation and their maintenance are carried out by the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys, Meghalaya. Under the centre’s National Land Records Modernization Programme, the State is committed to digitising its land records.

The local tribal communities own the land in Meghalaya and not the State. Since no land survey or demarcation was conducted in Meghalaya after the British regime, only offline land record details are currently offered by the DLRS Meghalaya. But, there is an exception in the case of a few villages in the Garo Hills. Hence, no records of rights exist in Meghalaya.

As per the Meghalaya Land Survey and Records Preparation Act, 1980, a cadastral survey of the land in Meghalaya should be conducted, and the land records should be prepared to show the occupancy and possession of the land.

The survey wing of the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys, Meghalaya provides bhunaksha through its cadastral surveys. The wing comprises of 4 sections as given below:

• General and Controlling Section

• Traverse Section

• Drawing Section

• Reproduction Section

While the overall functions of the controlling section are of administrative nature, the remaining three sections are purely technical.

The duties and functions of the survey wing are:

1. Conducting Cadastral Survey

From 2nd April 1991, to carry out the survey operations in the State, every field staff including the Khalasis have been placed at the disposal of the Autonomous District Councils.

2. The inter-state boundary survey and demarcation

The wing has the additional responsibility of the survey and demarcation of the Assam- Meghalaya Inter-State boundary. This task is routine in nature since there are certain portions of the boundary where there’s a difference of opinion with the Government of Assam which limits the execution of this function.

3. Responsibility for maintenance of the Indo-Bangladesh Boundary

The wing is solely responsible for the maintenance of the Indo-Bangladesh-Meghalaya Boundary. It is responsible for the restoration of missing or damaged boundary pillars during every field season which starts from the middle of November and ends in the last week of May. Survey wing is also involved in the boundary strip map printing.

4. Training the Meghalaya Civil Services, Meghalaya Police Service officers and the district and land records staff

The survey wing imparts the training within the survey and settlement for the M.C.S./M.P.S. Officers. Additionally, the training for the district land records staff for the utilisation of a system of weights and measures is also carried out by the wing.

5. The sub-divisional complex’s survey and demarcation

This is administered within the State. Other than this, the government lands in Shillong have been surveyed. A similar exercise was administered in Tura.

Certain acts and rules are specified for Meghalaya land records and they are:

• The Land Acquisition Act, 1894

• Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act, 1971

• Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulations) Rules, 1974

• Land Acquisition (Companies Rules 1963)

Key functions of the DLRS Meghalaya include:

• Conducting survey works for the Meghalaya land records preparation.

• Undertaking works related to districts and sub-divisional boundaries.

• Indo-Bangladesh strip maps, Meghalaya state and district maps printing.

• Along with the Bangladesh authorities, restoration of missing or displaced or damaged boundary pillars on an annual and sector-wise basis.

• Completed land acquisition cases’ compilation in Meghalaya

The DLRS Meghalaya coordinates with the district offices to carry out the digitisation of maps for updating revenue records. The offices are:

• Survey wing of the Director of Land Records & Surveys, Shillong

• Revenue branch of six districts and one sub-division

• The Meghalaya Survey School, Tura

The Meghalaya land records organisational chart is depicted below:

You can use the contact of the officers given below to get information about Meghalaya land records:

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