The State government has started the process for assignment/regularisation of encroachments of unobjectionable lands owned by it as well as those owned by various departments/corporations/institutions from Monday.
Those seeking regularisation of encroached lands could submit applications along with necessary proofs that they were in possession of the land before June 2, 2014, the State Formation Day. The government had fixed March 31 as deadline for submission of the applications which could be made through the Mee Seva centres.
There is however no clarity on whether the amount required for regularisation should be paid in instalments nor had the government specified any last date for payment of the fee for regularisation of the encroached lands. The government had previously allowed payments in five instalments and gave a discount of 5% for those who paid the amount in one go.
Officials also appeared unsure about the extent of land under encroachment and possible revenue the exercise is expected to yield. “We don’t know. We can’t hazard a guess,” was how a senior official responded when asked about the extent of lands under encroachment. There is also no clarity about the officials who would be entrusted with the responsibility of scrutinising the applications.
The government had constituted committees with RDOs as chairmen and tahsildar as member-convenor for regularisation exercise in the past. The committees were entrusted with completing the regularisation process within 90 days from the receipt of application. There are, however, no assignment committees at present and the tahsildars are no more vested with powers of regularisation.
The government, in the past, had announced regularisation of lands below the extent of 125 sq.yds held by below poverty line families free of cost. The cost of regularisation of lands between 125 sq.yds and 150 sq.yds in notified slums was fixed at 10% of the government price and 25% in case of lands in other areas.
Applicants should pay 25% of the price of lands in extent upto 250 sq. yds and 50% in respect of those up to 500 sq. yds. The government had fixed 75% of the existing price for encroached lands above 500 sq. yds and 100% of the base price in case of non-residential structures.
