Delay in giving GPS link to land records draws ire

Directing the Revenue Secretary to be present in the court during the next hearing on November 10, the First bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan, said “The time given in the affidavit of the Revenue Secretary of eight years is completely unacceptable. Shorn of niceties, there appears to be reluctance to engage technology for a quicker resolution.”

The bench also held that “At this stage, we would not like to say more, as the additional advocate general submits that he has now stepped into the brief and would ensure that the need for the court to pass similar directions as passed by the Karnataka High Court would not arise. Suffice to say that as per the petitioner, a period of two years in more than enough to complete the exercise.”

However, the bench on recording the threat thrown to the person, who was a specialist in the field and is assisting the petitioner V B R Menon in the case, it came down heavily on the Government for failing to take the petitioner’s assistance in the right spirit and instead view it as an adversarial petition.

The bench also recorded the petitioner’s submission that the Government has increased the funding through National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP) from 50 per cent to 100 per cent. Along with this, the rate per square meter has also been raised from Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 45,100.

The petitioner had sought a direction to the Government to constitute a Permanent Special Task Force with adequate powers and responsibilities to conduct periodical inspections, field surveys and removal of encroachments from all categories of vacant government lands. It may be noted that even during the previous two hearings, the bench had come down heavily on the Government for failing to safeguard its own lands, especially when ample funds were being made available through NLRMP for this purpose.