A team of officials from the Revenue Department, constituted by District Collector Jafar Malik, began inspection of files relating to land conversion applications at the Fort Kochi RDO office on Tuesday. The inspection is expected to continue for another four to five days as there are more than 3,000 files to be looked into.
The inspection team will submit a report to the District Collector after the scrutiny is completed. The team comprises ten officials from different wings of the Revenue Department. Though the inspections had begun early last week, more officials were assigned to the task considering the large number of files to be examined, sources said.
The scrutiny of the files has been instituted in the wake of widespread complaints of anomalies in which applicants were allegedly asked by employees of the RDO office to pay large sums of money as bribe for considering their applications. It has also been alleged that there was substantial delay in considering applications. Land conversion applications from 2017-18 are alleged to be still pending in the office.
‘Mass transfer’
The District Collector had authorised the transfer of 27 people from the RDO office after complaints were raised.
The allegations relate largely to change of date of applications submitted by people seeking conversion of property from paddy fields or wetlands into land suitable for building purposes, including houses. The conversion of a property from paddy fields into one suitable for commercial buildings or houses substantially raise the value of the property.
The State government had issued an order on February 25, 2021, that those seeking conversion of land from the date for area up to 25 cents did not have to pay any conversion fee. Earlier, the government had insisted on a certain percentage of the fair value of the property as conversion fee. It is now being alleged that some of the employees of the Fort Kochi RDO office offered to change the date of applications submitted even before February 25, 2021, for monetary benefit.
Meanwhile, Revenue Minister K. Rajan has said there will be action against those who engaged in corrupt practices. There would be no discrimination in the matter, he said. The intention of the ministry is to make the Revenue Department more people-friendly and efficient. The ‘mass transfer’ of officials from the Fort Kochi RDO office following corruption charges has been supported by MLAs from the district, including Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, said a communication from the Minister’s office on Friday.
