Revenue Administration in Bharatpur District

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– An Address by V.Srinivas IAS –

Member Board of Revenue,

Divisional Commissioner, Bharatpur,

District Collector Bharatpur,

Revenue Appellate Authorities Bharatpur,

All Additional District Collectors, Bharatpur,

All Sub-Divisional Officers, Bharatpur,

All Tehsildars, Bharatpur

I am delighted to be with you in Bharatpur today, the district witnessed the mustard revolution in the mid 1980’s and with 75 percent double cropped agricultural lands, represents one of the richest agrarian districts of Eastern Rajasthan. It is also part of the National Capital Territory Region and land costs are high. In the Board of Revenue, a very large number of second appeals are being filed from Bharatpur district. The challenges faced by the Revenue Administration in Bharatpur District are complex and unique, mostly driven by the huge case loads that Revenue Courts are witnessing.

Bharatpur district’s Sub-Divisional Courts are facing high court work, infact some of the highest litigation in the State is being witnessed in the District with nearly 20,000 cases in 19 Courts. The case loads in the important sub-divisions of the District are SDO Bharatpur (1123 suits), SDO Deeg (1069 suits), SDO Kumher (705 suits), SDO Bayana (1035 suits), Assistant Collector Bharatpur (1178 suits), Assistant Collector Kumher (1071 suits) Assistant Collector Nadbai (677 suits). I am informed that most of the suits are for declaratory rights and partition of holdings. It is important to monitor the stage wise pendency of the court work in Sub-Divisional Officer Courts.

My advise is to monitor stage wise pendency of Court work (particularly Suits) in Revenue Officers Meetings i.e. Number of cases for admission, Number of cases in issue of summons, Number of cases where applications for Legal Heirs are to be decided, Number of cases for evidence, Number of cases for arguments, Number of cases for Preliminary Decree and Number of cases for Final Decree. A stage wise monitoring of Court work would enable the Presiding Officers greater control of the work that they are handling. The quality of a Presiding Officer’s work can be determined from the forward movement in each of the stages of the Court work on a weekly/ monthly basis. Evidence must be recorded in all cases where witnesses come from long distances. The Presiding Officers must be careful that witnesses who travel to give evidence are duly administered evidence instead of being turned back without recording evidence. There must be consistency in Court sittings and predictability.

The SDO courts must function a minimum of 3 days/ week from 1030 am to 1.30 pm and ACM courts must function 5 days/ week from 1030 am to 1.30 pm. Cause-lists and judgments must be placed online. I am happy to note that SDO Courts have placed a large number of judgments online under the Rajasthan Revenue Courts grid. Statutory inspections by supervisory officers are greatly enabling for enhanced efficiency, inspections of patwaris by Tehsildars, inspections of Tehsils by Sub-Divisional Officers, inspections of Sub-Divisional Officers by District Collector are mandatory and must be conducted as per prescribed norms.

The Court work in most of the Sub-Divisions pertains to Declaratory Rights and Partition of Holdings of Khatedar Tenants. A “GairMurosi” Tenant under the Bharatpur revenue code is a tenant and acquires Khatedari rights under Section 15 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955. Khatedari rights can be conferred upon GairMurosi Tenants who are in continuous possession on the date of commencement of Rajasthan Tenancy Act 1955. The Board of Revenue has pronounced a number of judgments in this regard. The Board of Revenue is a Court of Record and its decisions are binding on Subordinate Revenue Courts of the State. I would advise you to follow the criteria laid down by the Board of Revenue that can determine the Khatedari Rights for GairMurosi Tenants.

In deciding applications for Temporary injunctions along with the Revenue Suits, Presiding Officers must ensure fulfillment of the principles governing the grant of Temporary Injunction namely (i) that the Plaintiff has a prima facie case, (ii) that the court’s interference is necessary to protect the party applying for temporary injunction from irreparable loss and (iii) the balance of convenience from granting the injunction exists. Ordinarily an injunction cannot be granted against a recorded Khatedar tenant.

I am glad to note the satisfactory progress achieved under the Digitization of Land Records and Management Program and the Revenue Campaign 2017. The objective of creating Model Tehsils is an imperative need that will enable Revenue Administration to cut down the time lags between Registration of Documents and their entries in the record of rights. The linkage between Sub-Registrar offices and Tehsils forms the cornerstone of 21st century Revenue Administration. An inverted pyramid in the district,has arisen due to shortages in Tehsildar postings. The Board of Revenue would be proposing to Government for due approvals for filling up the vacant posts on a timely basis.

Please accept my good wishes in all your challenging policy endeavors.

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Address by V.Srinivas IAS, Chairman Board of Revenue to the Revenue Officers, Collector’s Meeting Hall, Bharatpur Dated November 24, 2017

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 About the author

   V.Srinivas IAS

Senior Bureaucrats and Author

 V.Srinivas is an IAS officer of 1989 batch, presently posted as Chairman Board of Revenue for Rajasthan

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  He had previously served in the Ministry of Finance and as Advisor to Executive Director (India) IMF, Washington DC. Also worked as Planning and Finance Secretary of Rajasthan.

  Disclaimer : The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his  own and do not necessarily reflect the views of INVC NEWS.

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