Key proposals to protect govt. land gather dust

Two crucial proposals sent by the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) to the State government for protection of valuable government lands and resumption of allotted lands for violation of conditions have failed to see the light of the day.

The proposals were sent to the government several months ago after the survey, taken up by the office of the CCLA, revealed that several government lands allotted to various organisations and individuals at nominal prices were not utilised for the said purpose.

But then, the authorities realised that the cancellation of misused land allotment was not easy as they should get the stamp of approval from the Cabinet because original allotments were made by the government only after the Cabinet approval. “Thus, any cancellation of land allotment for violation of conditions has to go all the way up to the Cabinet, resulting in huge delay in taking action immediately,” CCLA I.Y.R. Krishna Rao said.

To break the impasse and facilitate immediate deterrent action, a proposal has been sent to the government that the District Collectors be empowered to resume land where allotted lands were either not used within the stipulated time period or misused in violation of stated purpose. “We wrote to the government to delegate powers to the Collectors to resume such land tracts and expedite the process,” CCLA officers said.

Going by the advice of the Advocate-General, the CCLA sent a proposal to the government that in all future land allocations seeking Cabinet approval, one more condition could be imposed in the Cabinet resolution itself that the District Collector concerned would be authorised to resume the land from the allottee along with the AP Land Management Authority, in case of violation of conditions.

For the land allocations already made either by Cabinet resolution or any order, the government could authorise the Collector to resume the land for violation of conditions, they said.

The second proposal was to ensure that the allotted land could not be mortgaged at a value greater than the assigned value. This decision was taken when it came to light that some individuals and institutions mortgaged the land allotted to raise huge loans at the market value and utilised it elsewhere.