For years, Punjab’s land administration has rested on a simple premise: Accurate revenue records establish who owns what and protect public and community property. But poor maintenance of these records, failure to periodically update ownership documents and lax enforcement of statutory procedures are now being linked to disputes involving government land, village common land and public infrastructure worth hundreds of crores of rupees.Revenue expert and retired Special Secretary Jaswant Singh, who now trains young IAS and PCS officers in handling revenue records, says the problem goes far beyond missing files. In his view, it reflects a systematic weakening of Punjab’s land administration.Historically, accurate land records formed the backbone of governance, taxation and property rights. During the British period, settlements and land records were prepared and periodically revised to provide legal certainty over ownership and public land. After Independence, however, successive governments gradually neglected the system despite the Punjab Land Revenue Act providing for periodic settlement operations, he said.System falling apartAccording to Jaswant Singh, the record of rights, or jamabandi, is required to be prepared and revised every five years. The responsibility runs through the revenue machinery, from patwaris to deputy commissioners and senior revenue authorities.When records are not updated or reconstructed after going missing, the consequences spread through the entire land administration system. Mutations remain pending, ownership disputes multiply and opportunities emerge for fraudulent claims over government and community land. Recent cases in Ropar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts illustrate the scale of the problem.400 acres and Rs 600-cr disputeOne of the biggest controversies has emerged in Bara Phool village on the Ropar bypass, where nearly 400 acres of village common land, estimated to be worth around Rs 600 crore, has allegedly been transferred into the names of nearly 70 private individuals over the past two decades.The village panchayat has approached the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Ropar and the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, seeking restoration of the land as village common land.AAP MLA Dinesh Chadha has alleged that influential persons, in connivance with government officials, facilitated illegal transfers of panchayat land in violation of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act. Legal experts have also maintained that village common land cannot legally be alienated to private individuals and must remain under the ownership of the gram panchayat for community welfare.Disappearing recordsAnother case before the Permanent Lok Adalat concerns the historic 60 km Ropar-Balachaur road. A petition alleges that although the road continues to exist in revenue and defence records, it has been encroached upon through boundary walls, buildings, fencing and industrial structures.Meanwhile, the disappearance of foundational revenue records known as “latha” relating to 14 villages in Nangal subdivision has added another layer of concern. The missing records have delayed mutations and land demarcation for hundreds of landowners and raised fears that the absence of authentic documents could facilitate fraudulent claims over government land or compensation during future acquisition projects.Paramjit Singh Pamma, former president of the district bar association of Ropar, said it was a sad state of affairs that the entire revenue record of Nangal had been stolen and no action had been taken against anyone.He said revenue records are legally presumed to be correct, making even minor clerical errors significant. Unless record maintenance, periodic revisions and administrative accountability are restored, he warned, Punjab will continue to face disputes over public property, illegal occupation of common lands and costly litigation affecting the government as well as ordinary citizens.