The government has finally decided to resume the land registrations relating to the non-agricultural properties from Friday. Slot booking for registration through the old CARD (computer aided registration of documents) system would resume from Friday after a gap of more than three months. Registration of agriculture and non-agricultural properties came to a grinding halt from September 7 after the government banned the process following the passage of two crucial legislations envisaging overhaul of the revenue administration which faced several allegations. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced that the government had firmed up its resolve to reform the revenue administration enabling it to issue conclusive titles to land owners. Accordingly, the Assembly passed two Bills – The Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020 and The Telangana Abolition of the Posts of Village Revenue Officers Act 2020. And, at the same time, the government had stopped registration of agricultural and non-agricultural properties till formal guidelines relating to the new legislations were issued.
In the process, the government had to face shortfall in the revenue on account of stoppage of registrations relating to non-agricultural properties. Though the government had opened up registration/mutation of land transactions pertaining to agricultural properties from October 29, the day when the Chief Minister launched the Dharani portal, there was no significant improvement on the revenue front owing to the teething problems that were witnessed before stabilising the operations through the portal. According to the monthly performance indicators of of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the revenue from the Stamps and Registration department till October stood at ₹ 1,692.51 crore as against the budget estimates for the year at ₹10,000 crore. The achievement till October was just 16.93% as against the 60.46% registered during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
The government’s decision to open up the process of registration of non-agricultural properties came as a relief to those engaged in the real estate business as the dealers as well as the buyers as they were worried over the prospects of their investments of the delays continued further. The development follows suggestions made by the division bench headed by the Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan that the government revive registration of no-agricultural properties by continuing the old procedures. The Bench clarified that it wanted to ensure sufficient security precautions were put in place to safeguard the crucial data of citizens to be uploaded on Dharani portal.
