Multi-tier intervention tosettle land ownership issues

It will avert conflicts between Revenue dept and the public.

A multi-level government intervention and modernisation of land records have been mooted to overcome legal hassles in settling ownership issues and averting conflicts between Revenue Department personnel and the public.

Though leaders of service organisations said that successive governments could not effectively end graft and nepotism in departments, mainly Revenue, the delay in modernising land records and lack of public awareness about the procedures laid for collecting tax and mutation were being cited as the prime reasons for the recurrence of such incidents.

Kerala Gazetted Officers Association general secretary T.S. Reghulal called for a multi-tier government intervention by amending rules and statutes and formation of committees at block-level for defining government and private lands.

Admitting that graft was one serious issue that needed to be addressed, he said that about 30% of employees were keen on having financial gains for offering services and 20% of them were ignorant of the rules and regulations. In effect, the system was being managed by 50% employees. This needed to be addressed, he said.

NGO Union general secretary said the union would embark on a drive complementary to the government initiative to end corruption and improve the efficacy of civil services. “We are planning to launch a drive to end such practices through personal interactions and house visits, if needed. We have decided to publicly isolate recalcitrant members who refuse to fall in line,” Mr. Mathukutty said.

Kerala NGO Sangh leader P. Sunil Kumar did not approve of the system of placing the onus on the employees. He called for expediting resurvey and issuing title deeds in a time-bound manner. The public should be made aware of the procedures of the Revenue Department to avert tussles between the employees and public.

Employees could go only by rules and if they do anything in violation of norms, would be placed in the dock. “Knee jerk reactions will not suffice. There should be permanent solutions,” he said.

All India State Government Employees Confederation general secretary C.R. Jose Prakash called for immediate steps to correct the inconsistencies in the mutation process in Malabar region and also completion of resurvey. He wanted the government to modernise land records to end ambiguity over ownership.