Minister for Revenue Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy.
| Photo Credit: ARRANGEMENT
As negotiations with stakeholders at different levels on the new Record of Rights Act is underway, Minister for Revenue Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy is confident that the entire process will be completed in the next fortnight after which the draft of the new Act will be taken up by the State Cabinet.
The Congress government has taken a first of its kind decision to put the draft new Record of Rights Act in public domain to elicit views from stakeholders while consultations were held at the district-level with District Collectors chairing them. The reports of these consultations will be received by the Head Office within a week after which the future course of action will be initiated, Mr. Srinivas Reddy said..
Mr. Srinivas Reddy shared some of his thoughts about the proposed Act and revenue related developments like proposed revision of land values in tune with the market values in an exclusive interview to M. Rajeev. Excerpts:
When is the new Record of Rights Act likely to be enacted?
The exercise of holding consultations and inviting public opinion at different levels has almost been completed. The details will be placed before the State Cabinet which will discuss about the salient features of the new Act, including the ‘good suggestions’ given by the stakeholders. The Cabinet will decide whether an Ordinance has to be promulgated initially or whether the full Act should be introduced in the next session of the Legislature.
There was no provision for appeal in the Record of Rights Act, 2020 which denied people an opportunity to air their grievances?
We are making provision for appeal mechanism at various levels in the Act. Appeals can be made at the level of MROs, RDOs, special collectors, district collectors and Chief Commissioner of Land Administration. The appeal will be escalated to the higher levels based on the size of the land involved and the gravity of the situation. There are also suggestions that a couple of retired judges be included in the system to consider the appeals from people.
What is the progress of Government’s efforts to bring out a comprehensive Revenue Act?
Exercise has been initiated to bring all the Revenue Acts (124 in total) under one umbrella. This is a step towards constituting an effective mechanism for revenue administration which involves setting up of revenue tribunals to ease the burden on courts. Huge number of cases are filed in the courts as the previous government left no scope for appeal.
The number of applications seeking redressal of grievances pertaining to Dharani Portal has been mounting?
We are in the process of addressing them. I made clear to the officials concerned that a speaking order is must for either disposing of the grievance or rejecting it. We are confident that all the pending applications, except those received during the current week, will be cleared within a week. We are firm that the interests of genuine landowners are protected and there should be no scope for such complaints in future.
Coming to Dharani, whether the government proposes to introduce a new system altogether or make changes in the existing portal?
We are adding the good provisions of the 1971 Record of Rights Act as well as the good ones incorporated in the 2020 Act. We will adopt the best practices, including those introduced by the previous government, and there is no confusion in that.
What about the proposals for revision of land values which has been in the air for some time?
Official work pertaining to revision of land values has been completed scientifically. We are proposing to categorise lands in villages and urban areas into four sectors — agriculture, commercial, residential and high value lands abutting the national/state highways. We propose to correct the differences in government values and market values.
Reduce the value if the government price is more than the market value and vice-versa. There are some discrepancies in assessment of the government prices and market values and the exercise is aimed at rectifying them. The government is thinking of giving a rebate of 0.5% to 1% to buyers wherever the transactions are genuine. This rebate will be applicable to transactions where the registration value is more than the government/market value of the land.
