In a major step towards streamlining the revenue administration from village level, the State Government has brought in the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights) Act, 2024 to rectify the lapses in the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020 enacted by the previous BRS Government and ensure hassle free land transactions.
The new Act was tabled in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday by Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy envisaging several changes in the manner in which land administration suffered setbacks during the previous Government. Accordingly, the new Act has provision for creation of Bhudhar, record for all land parcels across the State and issuance of Bhudhaar cards for protecting the ownership rights as well as ensuring access to the land details with a click of mouse.
Absence of unique identification number for land parcels was leading to boundary disputes and was also proving a hurdle in maintaining revenue records. Hence, it was decided to create unique land parcel identification number, the bill said.
The Act provides for redressal mechanism for rectification of entries in the Record of Rights and would create an appeal mechanism at different levels. It has provision for adjudication of land entered into Part-B, over an extent of 18.26 lakh acres, for which digital signature was not done.
An important provision for preparation of new Record of Right after re-survey and updation of the existing records through a special programme has been incorporated in the legislation providing major relief to scores of landowners who complained of numerous mistakes creeping into their land records. The legislation, once passed by the legislature, envisages streamlining the process of record of rights and also create a record for Abadi and non-agricultural lands which was hitherto absent.
The Act also provides for regularisation of sadabainamas, land transactions on plain paper, for which over 9 lakh applications were received in the past. Besides creating a user friendly and hassle free online portal for maintaining the record of rights, the new Act aims at protecting the Government lands.
The Act was mandated as the previous one the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act 2020 caused numerous problems to landowners with a significant number of not receiving their passbook cum title deeds in spite of the assurances given by the previous Government. The previous Act did not incorporate redressal mechanism forcing farmers to approach courts for resolving their grievances.
Besides, there is no record of rights for Abadi and non-agricultural lands prompting the need for establishing clear ownership of the property by mapping the land parcels through drone technology and providing legal ownership cards to household owners in villages. This, the Government said, would reduce property related disputes in rural areas and would bring financial stability to citizens by enabling them to use their property as financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits.
With several members requesting Speaker G. Prasad Kumar to give time to study the provisions of the Bill and suggest amendments if needed, the Chair said posted discussion on the Bill for its passage to Thursday.
Published – December 18, 2024 04:10 pm IST
