HYDERABAD:
Telangana government
said the
Dharani land portal
will bring transparency in maintaining digital records of
private properties
in the state and put an end to fraudulent means in the revenue and registration offices.
In response to a direction by the high court, chief secretary Somesh Kumar said the objective behind creating a repository of digital records of private properties is to integrate all the records of rights in one place instead of leaving them to panchayats in villages and municipal bodies in the urban areas and exposing them to frauds at the offices.
In an affidavit filed before the court, the CS said the
Dharani portal would not only ensure seamless transactions of registrations, succession and partition but also enable a hassle-free and instant mutation of properties.
He was responding to apprehensions raised by advocate Gopal Sharma, who questioned in his PIL the validity and legal basis for Dharani. The CS said Dharani is a single-window solution for all ills afflicting land records in the state.
Maintaining that a separate law for supporting Dharani was not required since the government is not doing anything new, the CS, however, said they brought required amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act, the Municipalities Act and the GHMC Act to cover both agricultural and non-agricultural properties.
“We have also repealed the old Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act of 1971 and brought in Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020. This legal basis is enough and no new law is required,” he contended.
The CS further said the Constitution has accorded protection to right to property through Article 300-A and Dharani aims at strengthening this in a foolproof manner. “Owners themselves can enter the details through MeeSeva centres and aggrieved persons will always have the option of approaching civil courts if there are any disputes,” he explained.
He said registration of properties in the new system is linked to the ownership and hence only the owners would be able to sell or transact on their property on an end-to-end secure portal that will integrate both registration and mutation.
“Discretion available to the officials in fixing the market value of the property has been removed because the portal carries all such details,” he pointed out.
Dharani portal also has provisions for identity confirmation, while registration transactions will be allowed through digital signatures. “The question of land records still holding the names of ancestors and dead persons will no longer be there. Entry of current owners will take place in a scientific manner thereby removing scope for malpractices,” he told the court.
Stating that Dharani would allow only the rightful owners to transact, he said discretion accorded to the sub-registrars was removed in the new system.