*Revenue Deptt’s proposal cleared with modification
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 18: Ensuring better land management and protection of agricultural land from shrinkage by way of reviewing the land use laws has finally received the attention of the Government with General Administration Department (GAD) clearing the proposal of the Revenue Department although with modification and formulating a multi-department committee. However, the exercise to be carried out by the panel of top bureaucrats has not been made time-bound, which otherwise was an imperative step so as to achieve the intended objective.
EXCELSIOR in its edition dated October 29, 2016 had exclusively highlighted that General Administration Department was sleeping over the proposal of the Revenue Department regarding setting up of Land Use Planning Board despite being aware of the fact that such a step would be of immense help in optimal utilization of land resources.
According to the official sources, following opening of Civil Secretariat at Jammu, the General Administration Department woke up to the necessity of holding deliberations on the proposal of the Revenue Department and during this exercise an opinion emerged that a high-level committee comprising top officers of different departments be constituted instead of Land Use Planning Board.
The GAD was of the opinion that legislature would have to be taken on board for establishment of Land Use Planning Board, which otherwise is a time-consuming process. However, sources said that there were other reasons behind avoiding setting up of the Board. “Generally such a Board enjoys autonomous status which the GAD was not interested in granting otherwise there are numerous instances wherein Boards have been established by way of executive orders”, they added.
“This is the only modification which the GAD has made in the proposal of the Revenue Department and the composition of the high level committee as well as the terms of reference are the same as was proposed for the Board”, sources said.
Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation is the Chairman of the High-Level Committee while as Administrative Secretaries of Agriculture Production Department, Planning, Development and Monitoring Department, Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Administrative Secretaries of PWD, Industries and Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Forest, Revenue, Rural Development, Tourism, Horticulture, Information Technology, Vice-Chairman of JDA/SDA have been made members of the committee.
The committee will take stock of the present land use in the State and propose broad guidelines for optimum utilization of land; formulate draft policy and broad guidelines to protect agricultural lands against degradation on account of soil erosion, water logging, loss of fertility and industrialization; review revenue laws with particular reference to the problems relating to consolidation of holdings with an intent to increase productivity of agricultural lands; review land use and forest laws with particular reference to the problems relating to the degradation and protection of forest lands; formulate housing policies for rural areas; recommend steps for discouraging scattered construction activity in rural areas and identify bottlenecks in bringing cultivable waste lands, fallow lands etc under crop production etc.
Moreover, it has been proposed that the committee will lay down broad guidelines for optimum utilization of land reclaimed through implementation of flood protection schemes; create an informed public opinion in order to obtain their cooperation with regard to the matters concerning better land and water management
Interestingly, the General Administration Department has not fixed any time-line for completion of task assigned to the high-level committee, which otherwise was imperative to achieve the intended objectives, sources said, adding “keeping in view the fate of numerous such committees constituted till date, the General Administration Department should have incorporated some measures so as to ensure that this committee meets after regular intervals keeping in view multifarious duties assigned to it”.
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