Some key revenue reforms like creation of revenue code and land disputes redressal tribunal and abolition of the post of District Revenue Officer (DRO) are said to be part of the new revenue legislation of the State government.
Sources said top government officials and law officers were studying revenue code in force in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in a bid to replicate it. The code which will require Centre’s approval will be an amalgamation of the 145 existing revenue legislations and rules. As many as 25 legislations and rules had become redundant over the years. The government was also studying constitution of land disputes redressal tribunals in each district to address Record of Rights, tenancy and Inam issues which were hitherto handled by revenue courts conducted by Tahsildars, Revenue Divisional Officers and Joint Collectors.
The government also proposed to abolish the post of DRO as it was felt the incumbents were not of much use after the creation of two posts of additional collectors in every district. Moreover, most of the additional collectors were already discharging duties as DRO. The DROs presently monitors district revenue system, service matters of employees and all other tasks designated by collectors.
The revenue code will be an alternative to the Conclusive Title Act which Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao assured for land ownership in the Assembly, sources said. The conclusive title as envisaged by Mr. Rao will become a part of revenue code. It was felt a separate legislation to confer conclusive title was not feasible in Telangana because the size of land holdings was mostly small and also the actual size differed from the records. The Act was contemplated on the lines of the draft Land Titling Bill, 2011, during UPA II regime. The Bill held the government responsible to ensure land owners got open market value plus a matching solatium in all transactions.
The need for overhaul of revenue administration was felt after the government took up land records updation programme in September - December 2017. Many land related issues came into the open with the implementation of Rytu Bandhu programme in 2018 on the basis of land record updation.
