A team of tahsildars appointed to review lands granted as per the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, in Kadur and Mudigere taluks of Chikkamagaluru has found irregularities pertaining to the grant of over 10,500 acres and also named elected representatives and hundreds of officers as allegedly responsible for irregularities.
In the inquiry report submitted to the State government, the team mentioned the names of former legislators who belonged to all major political parties – Congress, BJP, and the JD(S). They are Motamma, Y.S.V. Datta, C.T. Ravi, M.P. Kumaraswamy, Belli Prakash, B.B. Ningaiah, who were heads of the land grant committees at various points. Besides them, the report also names 23 members of the land committees, 23 tahsildars, 84 revenue inspectors, 18 shirastedars, 26 Bhoomi operators, 35 caseworkers, 36 land surveyors, and 104 village accountants in the report. The government has to take action against them.
Why panel was set up
Following allegations of irregularities in granting lands in the two taluks last year, K.N. Ramesh, DC of Chikkamagaluru at that time, had submitted a report to the State government. Based on the report, the Revenue Department sent a team of 13 tahsildars in September 2023, to verify the documents case-by-case and submit a report.
As per norms, landless people have the opportunity to seek grants by filing applications under relevant forms – 50, 53 and 57 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act. A family can get a maximum of four acres and 38 guntas of land. The applications are processed by revenue officials before the taluk level committee, headed by the MLA, takes the final decision. However, in both the taluks, there have been instances where ineligible applicants were granted land, in many cases, forest land and gomala (grazing land) were granted, and in several cases, documents were not verified properly, it is alleged. Interestingly, in some cases, lands were granted without an application from the beneficiary.
How many cases
The tahsildars’ team reviewed documents pertaining to 2,243 cases involving 5,238.29 acres of land in Kadur taluk. Of that, the team found that 2,349.07 acres were granted in 936 ineligible cases. It recommended review with regard to another set of 1,062 cases that deal with 2,371.36 acres. Besides that, it found procedural lapses with regard to the grant of 517.26 acres in 245 cases.
Similarly, in the case of Mudigere taluk, the team verified 1,961 cases involving the grant of 5,360.01 acres. During the case-by-case review, the officers noticed that 3,893.22 acres were granted in 1,289 cases. The grant of another 1,365.35 acres with respect to 615 cases should be reviewed, and with regard to 57 cases involving 100.24 acres, the procedure was not followed.
Recommendations
The officers’ team also documented whose committee and which tahsildar cleared each ineligible case. This would help the government identify people responsible for irregularities. It has left it to the government’s discretion to take action against them. The tahsildars have recommended measures to avoid such irregularities in the future, including developing software to process applications.
Published - September 26, 2024 07:51 pm IST
