TS registration plan might land in trouble
It is cost effective but experts warn of rise in pending litigations
The state government, as a one-time measure, has allowed registration of agricultural land in rural areas recorded on ‘sada bainama’ ( plain paper). Legal experts say the decision is fraught with consequences, and could add to the pending litigation in courts.
Surveys conducted with regard to litigation in subordinate and higher courts across the country show that the origin for 70 per cent of pending criminal and civil case is land.
According to the report of the Koneru Ranga Rao Committee on Land, submitted in 2007, about 70 per cent of the petitions that come to the district collectors pertain to land.
The TS government says, the scheme gives owners a chance to update and purify records under the Telangana Land Records Management System.
According to revenue officials, regularisation of unregistered sale transactions will help persons who are recorded as occupants in the Adangal/ Pahani or in the Record of Rights. In most cases, the names of the occupants are not recorded in the appropriate columns of the Adangal/Pahani.
The Adangal/Pahani are documents that provide comprehensive data on the survey number, owner’s name, liabilities, tenants, details of crop and yield among other details.
High Court advocate N. Sreedhar Reddy said lack of entry in the revenue records always gives scope for litigation during or after regularisa- tion.
There is always the possibility of legal heirs disputing the sale of land in cases where there are no entries in the revenue records. In such cases, the occupant or person in possession of the land has to move the court for title declaration or prove that the land was in his possession for 12 years, he said.
Mr Sreedhar Reddy said many of the sada bainamas are old, many of them may have seen multiple transactions. The possibility of those transactions landing before a court even after regularisation by the government by those claiming ownership is high, he said.
He said that the cut-off date prescribed by the state government could lead to vested interests misusing the opportunity by creating documents in the name of dead persons. It would also give scope for corruption.
Mr Sreedhar Reddy, who was special government pleader dealing with revenue cases as one of the key subjects from 2008 to 2014, said there are several cases with regard to claiming title over the land landed in the civil court. Cases of wrong entries in revenue records landed before the joint collector and district collector during and after sada bainama scheme introduced by the previous Congress government. He said a large number of cases were also pending in the High Court.
The TS government says the scheme will provide an opportunity to the poorest of poor — who are unable to get financial benefits provided by the government in the absence of registered land documents — to regularise their ownership.