The new Act introduces a unique identification number, "Bhu Aadhar," for each land parcel. This system aims to improve the identification and management of land records and give hope to owners of 18 lakh acres land moved to ‘restricted’ category under Dharani.
Published Dec 20, 2024 | 11:34 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 20, 2024 | 11:34 AM
A screengrab of the Dharani land portal website.
Bhu Bharathi – Record of Rights (RoR) on land Act, 2024, replacing the RoR Act of 2020, is qualitatively different.
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, while explaining the features of Bhu Bharathi, called it a farmers’ Act and said it was intended to herald a new era in land management. The new Act replaces Dharani with Bhu Matha, a land records management portal.
Bhu Bharathi brings in good news for the farmers who have been running from pillar to post, after their land holdings disappeared mysteriously from Dharani portal.
These land holdings which account for about 18 lakh acres were allegedly moved to Part – B (restricted category) in the portal, on “trivial reasons.” The act provides for a fresh assessment of their status.
The disappearance of the land records gave the Congress enough ammo to battle with the BRS in the last Assembly elections. It was one of the factors that is perceived to have helped the grand old party come to power in the state.
Another important aspect is that in Dharani, there used to be no scope for changing the rules framed under the Act by any officer, which led to a number of problems which officials let drag on without any solution. The new act however provides leeway to the government to change the rules by issuing an official order or declaration.
The new Act seeks to bring in a unique identification number for each land parcel, which will be known as Bhu Aadhar on the lines of Aadhar. The unique identification number is expected to help in better identification and management of land records.
This is in pursuance of the centre’s initiative of bringing in a legislation for land titling based on longitudes and latitudes. The proposed central Act will define the boundaries of all the land parcels in the country.
The state intends to allot a number and issue a card for all the land holdings. The government first intends to give an interim card and then a permanent one, after the land survey in the state is done.
Unlike in Dharani, the new act provides for appeals’ system. Those not happy with the decision of the tahsildar could go appeal to the RDO in 60 days and then to the Collector in another 60 days. If he is not satisfied even then he could approach land tribunals to be set up at the state, district and division level.
Bhu Bharathi allows conferment of land ownership rights on those who have houses in grama khantam area of the village. Grama Kantham is an area left for public use in the village.
The new legislation proposes to provide free legal aid to the poor and needy farmers. For this purpose, the government will appoint volunteers at mandal level.
Another feature is regularisation of sadabainamas – agreements on plain paper – between sellers and buyers. Such sadabainamas executed before 2 June, 2014, will be regularised. There are about 9.24 lakh sadabainamas pending for regularisation. An officer of the rank for RDO would be appointed to regularise them.
The Bhu Bharathi seeks to tighten the rules of succession of property to heirs, when the property holder dies intestate to prevent disputes at a later stage. The new Act has done away with the registration and mutation without a joint declaration of all legal heirs. The tahsildar concerned will have to issue notices to all the heirs and then review the case. Only then, mutation will be done in favour of the applicant and all the heirs would be provided details.
As regards protection of the government and private lands, the new legislation provides for a suo moto inquiry and action. The chief commissioner, land administration, either on his own or acting on a complaint from an affected party, could initiate inquiry into alterations or additions or deletions of details from land records. The district collector would have the powers to cancel the pattadar pass books issued after bending or ignoring the rules. The government will have the powers to dismiss from service the officer responsible for the fraud, and prosecute him after resuming the land.
Another important aspect of Bhu Bharathi is that it seeks to restore the village revenue system which had been abolished by the previous BRS government. The new Act mandates appointment of a revenue officer for each village.
The new portal Bhu Bharathi, will have a simplified interface with a reduction in the number of modules from 33 in Dharani to just six, making it easier for users to navigate through the system.
While explaining the salient features of the new Act, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy recalled how a BRS mandal parishad territorial constituency (MPTC) representative, Dharavtu Ravi from Narayanapuram village in Kesamudram Mandal in Mahabubabad district used to meet him frequently for restoration of 1,398 acres of land belonging to tribals which had disappeared from Dharani. The land parcels were moved to Part B, classifying them as forest land though the farmers had pass-books with them, certifying that they were the owners of the land parcels.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
