With a large number of people having submitted bogus applications seeking regularisation of cultivation of crops on government land in the State, the Revenue Department has directed tahsildars to streamline the process in the next nine months by linking Aadhaar numbers of families to issue land grant orders to eligible applicants.
The Revenue Department has received more than 9.29 lakh applications seeking ownership of government land to the extent of 54 lakh acres, which did not exist.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told reporters on Tuesday that the department had received a large number of bogus applications. While one individual has submitted 25 applications, many have sought regularisation of parcels of government land which were not cultivated at all. Some individuals, who are landlords, too have applied to seek ownership of government land they have been cultivating over the years.
Though the intention of the Akrama-Sakrama scheme was to provide land to the landless, many families and individuals having ownership of land have submitted applications. Under the scheme, an applicant is eligible to regularise 4.38 acres and they should have been cultivating such land prior to 2004. Applicants should be 18 years of age by 2004. However, some people who were not born in 2004 too had submitted applications, he said.
To streamline the process under the scheme, the Bagair Hukum committees headed by legislators have been told to digitise the meeting proceedings. In many cases in the past, committee meetings were held in the absence of legislators, he said.
The department has received applications from 50 taluks seeking the constitution of Bagair Hukum committees and they would be set up in all taluks in the next few days, he said.
Only after the demarcation of land and survey of land by surveyors, the Minister said, the department would register land in the name of eligible farmers and all records would be digitised.
Records to be scanned
In the wake of many land record rooms at tahsildars’ offices not being maintained properly and families being made to run from pillar to post seeking original land records, the Minister said a decision had been taken to complete the process of scanning all land records. About ₹50 lakh would be required to scan land records in each taluk of the State.
After the completion of the scanning process, all records would be posted in the public domain to democratise the records. Only those who need land certificates would be asked to approach the Revenue Department, Mr. Gowda said.
Currently, a large number of people visit taluk offices seeking land records. In some cases, he said, land records were missing and in other cases, officials seek bribes to provide records.
