The Dharani committee is hopeful that at least 50% of the pending applications in Dharani portal are likely to be cleared by March 9, the deadline for the special drive launched for field verification and rectification of grievances of farmers.
Over 2.45 lakh applications related to Dharani have been pending for long time and these applications are seeing the light of the day after the launch of the special drive. “The entire process is systematised and conservative estimates point out that over one lakh applications will be cleared by March 9,” a committee member said.
Following instructions from Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, the State Government has launched the special drive on March 1 issuing detailed guidelines for disposal of pending applications. Accordingly, the official teams constituted for field verification are visiting the villages and holding discussions with the applicants to understand their problems.
Interestingly, the Government has made it mandatory for the Tahsildars to prepare reports pertaining to individual cases along with issuing a speaking order on whether the applications are accepted or rejected. Time lines have been fixed for all the cases so that they are expeditiously disposed of. “Applicants can take to legal recourse if they have objections relating to the speaking orders issued by Tahsildars, a provision which was not available since the launch of Dharani portal,” the member told The Hindu.
The committee is however of the view that the current special drive is “first aid”, not treatment, for the entire problem as the basic problem is with Record of Rights Act, The Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020. The Act would need a total revamp as it was “regressive” when it comes to the interests of landowners. “There is no adjudication mechanism nor are there any provisions that help redress the grievances of farmers. The Act needs a total revamp and it will take time for framing the new legislation,” he said.
