Telangana Govt decentralises powers to clear pending Dharani applications ahead of the portal revamp

Telangana Government expedites the process to clear pending applications on Dharani portal to address farmers' issues.

Telangana Government has initiated the first step to understand the severity of the problems faced by farmers after the launch of Dharani portal, the official land records management portal of the State, ahead of its total revamp.

The Government has accordingly amended the circular governing different modules of the portal for quick disposal of pending applications in the first phase. There are as many as 2.5 lakh pending applications with the Revenue authorities at different levels and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is learnt to have expressed his displeasure over the large pendency during his recent meeting with the members of the committee constituted on Dharani.

The new circular issued by the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration mentions 16 modules like issue of passbook on court order, grievances relating to prohibited properties, K&L forms and grievances relating to acquired lands among others.

Unlike in the past when the District Collector was the only authority to make changes in the land related documents, the Government has decentralised the entire process assigning responsibilities to officials at various levels from Tahsildars to the CCLA to clear the pending applications. Accordingly, Tahsildar has been made the final approving authority for four modules, RDO for six modules and the district collector for seven modules in addition to clearing K and L forms. The CCLA on his part has been authorised to transfer land from notional khata to patta, land type correction, extent correction and mission survey/sub-division numbers.

The Government has laid down procedures for clearing pending applications at different levels fixing time lines. The applications at the district collector and Tahsildar levels should be cleared within a week while those at the RDO and additional collector level in three days. The decision to expedite clearance of the pending applications has been arrived at as the changes proposed in the Record of Rights (RoR) Act and the proposed modifications in the Dharani software would take some time.

“New Act has to be finalised in place of the old RoR Act and it should be given statutory powers through passage by the Assembly. Changes in the Dharani software will also take time,” a member of the committee told The Hindu.

The Government has therefore decided to launch special drive to clear as many pending applications as possible without keeping farmers in waiting for long.