The High Court order restraining the District Registrar from registering unauthorised layouts will go a long way in preventing rampant conversion of agriculture land for real estate business.
In the last several years, a large chunk of agriculture land in rural areas of the union territory has gone into the hands of realtors leaving a huge question mark on the long-term livelihood means of farmers.
Statistics reveal that in the late 1950s, paddy had been cultivated on around 52,000 hectares of land in the union territory. The area had shrunk to 25,200 hectares in 2016. Similarly, sugar cane had been cultivated on an area of 10,000 hectares during the early 1960s as against the present 3,000 hectares.
Leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) V. Perumal, who had been fighting for long against conversion of agriculture land for real estate purpose, said the High Court decision would prevent large-scale conversion of agriculture land.
“We used to export excess paddy to neighbouring States. Bahour was once known as the rice bowl of UT and now the paddy fields have been converted into plots. The farmers have not benefited from the sale,” he said.
The High Court, acting on a petition filed by advocate ‘Elephant’ G. Rajendran, on Tuesday directed the District Registrar not to register unauthorised layouts.
Sources in the Revenue Department said more than 90 per cent of the plots registered did not have the approval of the Department of Town and Country Planning.
The court order, notwithstanding the social side, would create a dent in revenue collection. The order comes at a time when the Revenue Department was staring a revenue shortfall after the government reduced guideline register (GLR) value of property by 25 per cent.
The revenue from registration of property had been on the decline because of fall in registration of property. The revenue collection came down to Rs. 124 crore in 2014-15 and further to Rs. 117 crore in 2015-16.
“The cut in GLR value coupled with demonetisation has caused a huge revenue loss. It could be difficult to cross the Rs. 50-crore mark,” he said.
Review petition
Official sources told The Hindu that the government might file a review petition to exempt the union territory from the order.
