Land conflicts in India impact Rs 12 trillion in investment. More than a quarter of 80 high-value projects are stalled due to land conflicts (RRI & ISB, 2016). Indian courts are clogged with land and property disputes making the ownership and transfer of land difficult and costly. Of 30 million pending cases in state-level courts two-thirds are related to land or property (Daksh, 2016). When India is looking to surge ahead and compete with Asian economies land reform policy becomes a matter of concern. India’s system of land administration fails to deliver the level of tenure security and operational efficiency needed to boost land-related investment, improve governance, and reduce informality. Reasons for such failure can be found in incomplete and overlapping records, as well as, institutional overlap and inefficiency, all of which can be traced to the original objectives of land administration. Many scholars believe this incites excessive property litigation, which delays projects, hampers investment and affects quality of life.

This paper studies the problem of increasing land litigation in India. It studies disputes through a state-level case study and prioritizes possible sources that encourage litigation. The study evaluates land-related litigation in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the largest agrarian Indian state that suffers from a high instance of land disputes. The author relies on qualitative and quantitative methods like content analysis of cases and interviews of stakeholders. The study explores dominant land issues, how these issues change with recent amendment to land acquisition laws, and the role of state-specific laws in land conflict outcomes.

Findings show that pending land reforms since 1950’s encourage land litigation in U.P. Other issues like land acquisition and possession are contributors as well. Agricultural land is a source of such land disputes. Study shows that the Indian government’s recent reformation of land acquisition laws fails to show any correlation with land acquisition cases in U.P. State-specific laws dominate the applicable law and correlate with high outcomes in favor of the government. Clearly, land policy in India needs to focus on expediting the post-independence land reforms. We can no longer to neglect the role of state government in reducing such litigation. More clarity is needed on the federal-state relationship on land matters.