HYDERABAD: Justice K. Lakshman of the Telangana High Court after identifying 20 recurring challenges in the Dharani portal, directed the Chief Secretary and the Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) to address these issues in accordance with the law within four weeks and report compliance to the court.
The judge was dealing with a batch of writ petitions challenging the action of tahsildars in not issuing certified copies of registered sale deeds, succession certificates and partition deeds.
In a detailed order the judge pointed out that the Record of Rights Act 2020 was enacted “with the salutary object of digitizing the maintenance of revenue records and to obviate the difficulties faced by the citizens in getting lands mutated in their names.”
He pointed out that “the idea behind introducing the portal was to reduce human intervention and to weed out red-tapism in the maintenance of revenue records. The objective also includes checking corruption, delays and irregularities in land registration. However, this case (cases) is a classic example of how citizens still face difficulties while accessing the portal.”
The judge pointed out that according to law, the authorities cannot refuse the issuance of certified copies. The court had also asked the CCLA to appear before it.
After hearing various bottlenecks, the judge identified twenty problems, including non-consideration of online applications seeking correction of data; issuance of e-pattadar passbook; non-consideration of F-line application for the survey; sale certificates issued by banks and financial institutions to auction purchasers; uploading general and special power of attorney; rejection of applications with a single word ‘ rejected’; no display on wrong module of online application; no provision for appeals; no option to divide property purchased jointly, and no option on missing survey numbers or deletion of land acquired under the land acquisition Act.
The judge directed the CCLA “to seek inputs and opinion from revenue officials working at the village, mandal and division levels through the concerned district collectors regarding the common difficulties that arise in relation to Dharani portal. It is based on these that the CCLA and the chief secretary shall take necessary action, he said.
