Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, June 1: Settlement process of land records in Jammu and Kashmir is in limbo as the Revenue Department’s exercise in this regard has come to a grinding halt since months while the fresh initiative of outsourcing the practice is yet to take off.
Modalities of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the State Government and the private agency, which has been identified for the Settlement of Revenue records in Jammu and Srinagar districts in first phase, are yet to be formally finalized for signing of the same, official sources told the Excelsior.
On the other hand, sources added, ever since the formation of new administrative units in the State last year and transfer of existing Revenue staff from the Settlement wing to these new units for making them functional, the settlement process by Revenue Department on its own has also come to a halt.
Consequent upon halting of the settlement process by the Revenue Department and uncertainty over re-starting the same following Government announcement of outsourcing the exercise, equipments like Electronic Total Stations (ETS) for mapping and computers worth crores of rupees are non-operational and all set to become outdated, sources explained.
Pertinent to mention that the process of settlement of Revenue records in Jammu and Kashmir was initiated in late eighties. Till date, around 200 crores of rupees have been spent on the exercise but the settlement of less than 1800 villages, out of more than seven thousand, have so far been completed in two decades.
After initiating the process initially in a few tehsils, the entire State was brought under Settlement Operations vide SRO 314 of 1999, dated 29-07-1999 as the Government felt that the settlement in Revenue records was a necessity after implementation of Land Estates Act and Agrarian Reforms in the State.
Equipments worth crores of rupees were purchased for the mapping purpose while independent computer centers were established with own software at district level besides appointing 700 Patwaris and other staff for preparing digital as well as textual record under the new Settlement.
However, due to the lack of consistency and non-serious approach of the successive State Governments, the process remained at snail’s pace registering less than 25 percent progress in the last two decades. “Frequent transfers of the staff engaged for the Settlement process as well as the Settlement Commissioner and Settlement officers severely affected the progress with the result that there was virtually no output despite spending crores of rupees on the exercise,” explained a senior officer in the Revenue Department on the condition of anonymity.
Instead of taking corrective measures, the previous Government shifted the staff from Settlement wing to newly formed Administrative units and mooted the proposal of outsourcing Settlement process, which was endorsed by the incumbent PDP- BJP regime. This outsourced agency will initially take up settlement of Revenue record of Jammu and Srinagar districts, to be completed in three years and depending upon the satisfactory performance, the agreement may be extended for more districts.
However, even after lapse of more than two months since the announcement of Revenue Minister Javed Mustafa in this regard on floor of the State Assembly, the Government has yet to enter into an agreement with the private agency for taking up Settlement process, sources informed.
On the other hand, sources added, ever since the shifting of staff to newly formed Administrative units, the entire exercise of Settlement of revenue records has come to standstill besides rendering of the equipment worth crores of rupees useless as the same is unlikely to be used by the hired agency, which takes help of satellite imagery instead of ETS for mapping purpose.
Follow our WhatsApp channel