Telangana’s way to clean world records

The expert committee has recommended that the Dharani portal – known as the one-stop solution to land-related problems – be completely replaced. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Telangana state government is gearing up to deal with many land tenure complaints, plaguing farmers since the introduction of integrated land record management systems in the form of the Dharani portal which was heralded as a one stop solution to land related issues. .

A few months after coming to power, the Congress formed a committee of experts on land laws tasked with studying the workings of Dharani and suggesting ways to rectify it. The committee recommended that the portal be completely replaced and a new Bhumatha portal installed.

The committee led by the senior Congress leader M. Kodanda Reddy and Nalsar professor and land law expert M. Sunil Kumar, former Chief Land Administration Commissioner Raymond Peter, and others as members recommended the repeal of the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act 2020. , popularly known as the Record of Rights (RoR) Act, to ensure the protection of farmers’ rights. Prepared the draft of the new Law and presented it to the public for the first time seeking the development of the proposed law from all stakeholders.

A pipe of problems

Launched in October 2020, the Dharani portal aimed to eliminate the discretionary power of officials at various levels and ensure a system-based approach. Prior to the launch of Dharani, the government took up a program to review land records and collected information from 10,823 cities.

Read more | Telangana’s Dharani portal has expedited the registration process, but lacks transparency, the panel said

This data has become important as farmers are invested under Rythu Bandhu (farmer investment support scheme), along with other benefits. Given the importance of data, the operation of the Dharani portal became very important for the land rights of farmers and landowners. However, the situation at the field level was not as easy as the previous government had predicted.

The Dharani site also brought a number of problems, such as farmers having land outside find out (registered document), which you have find out without land or name on record, and names of farmers present on record, but without actual possession of the other find out or the world. There are cases where all survey numbers are not in the records making it difficult for farmers and officials to manage land records.

One of the biggest concerns with the previous Act was the absence of a grievance redressal mechanism and the capacity to submit applications to the authorities. Farmers with grievances had to pay money to seek solutions to their problems, which burdened them. As there was no mechanism for redressal of grievances at the grassroots level, the problems were referred to the district collectors and the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration.

The enactment of the new RoR Act has become necessary as the previous Act enacted by the BRS government in 2020, which replaces the 1971 Act, has faced allegations that chronic failures and loopholes continue to affect land sales in rural areas. “There is no need to appeal to the previous law that denied farmers the opportunity to express their grievances,” said Mr. Kumar.

Accordingly, the committee suggested that the government establish a Land Governance Innovations and Legal Support Cell that will assist in implementing changes in land governance. In the medium term, it proposed a provision to accept applications in person regarding complaints which can be handled online later with the application fee adjusted/waived.

Interestingly, the committee suggested that the services of rural youth could be used for land verification, land records and identification of land problems.

Since the previous government abolished financial management at the village level, the committee favored the appointment of people at the village level to manage the land so that many problems could be solved.

The launch of the new portal and the enactment of the new RoR Act separately, the government must ensure successful implementation at the field level otherwise farmers will continue to face the problems they have been facing for the past few years. It remains to be seen what method the government will use to avoid complaints.