Kottayam: Revenue department will provide one more chance to those who have failed to apply for title deeds of land. The opportunity would be given to those who had been living in forest lands as settlers before January 1, 1977 and those who were omitted from the list of data collection conducted in the state from March 1 to 30, 2024. Those who belong to these categories could submit their applications to the village offices concerned from July 10 to 25. 

With the revenue department opening up opportunities, those who got omitted from the list considered during the joint inspection by the forest and revenue departments and those residing in areas where the joint inspection is not conducted yet, would get a chance to apply for land title deeds. Apart from these, those who have not yet applied for title deeds will also have the opportunity to do so. 

During the inspection conducted from March 1 to 30, the government had received 37,311 applications. Though all of them were new applicants, more inspections should be conducted regarding the veracity of the details furnished by the applicants. As part of this, the applications would be screened first by a village officer and then a joint inspection of forest-revenue departments would conduct a through check up on the list approved by the village officers.

The inspection will primarily focus on the time of the land's occupation and its age.

According to the officials, as of now, there are 1,11,539 applications under consideration of the department. This includes the applications submitted during the last joint inspection also. For those who had settled in forest land before January 1, 1977, new applications could be submitted based on the special regulations of 1993. 

A special consent was given regarding this following the discussion held between the forest minister, revenue minister and central ministry of environment. This process would be monitored by Land Revenue Commissioner and an official entrusted by Ministry of Forest and Environment.