THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF TEMPLE LANDS ARE UNDER ENCROCHMENT BY LAND LORDS AND PUBLIC REPS

In the princely states of Travancore, Cochin there were land Revenue Departments who maintained survey records in more or less in flawless manner. With the formation of Kerala state after 1.11.1956 unified Laws, Rules and Regulations were framed. Though treasuries and Civil Supplies were part of the Revenue Department a separate department of Treasuries was formed in 1963 and Food and Civil Supplies formed in 1975. Re-survey which started in nineteen seventies and concluded by 1990 have complicated the land ownership. There is no fool proof method to record lease, acquisition, mortgage, partition, sale (Call it LAMPS in short) of the land. Resurvey documents are very often challenged and declared void in the court of law. Major flaw is that the resurvey reports failed to correlate the land records with the old survey records. Victims of wrongly prepared re-survey records are mostly the aged and/or those who leave Kerala to work outside elsewhere as Engineers, doctors, Soldiers, scientists, teachers or civil servants. Normally when a complaint is raised the prompt reaction is to evade action (for fear or favor). The concerned officials often discourage the victims telling that only a court of law can solve their problem, however genuine be their problem. Public generally hesitate to file a case as legal remedy in civil cases (are on record) take 15 years on an average to elicit results. There are more than 3 crore civil cases in various courts of the country. [Pl. see annexure for details] IS REMEDY POSSIBLE? If observable and measurable land records are available and accessible to public through IT/ ICT, manipulations (if any) can be detected promptly. Transparent land records can reduce the disputes. Streamlining can be done in the same way as done for gas connections and civil supplies in Kerala which now stands streamlined. There could be initial objections which will die out when results are positive. There can be a ‘revenue Lok adalat’ or an ‘open courts’ to unburden the judiciary from the pending litigations. Advocates can improve their clientele if they adore the role of “consolers” India has around 300 Million hectares (MH) reporting land area though geographical area is more than 329 MH. If with satellite imaging (GIS) can be merged with current technics of measurement (like use of digitalized total station, and the recent trial of using drones), a precise land record can be generated for each locality, ward or village or township. Disputes get considerably reduced or settled quickly if land records of dept.s of survey, are linked with records of revenue, village office and sub-registrars’ office. A uniform mother BTR or a state land register can be available for public vision and verification. The mother register must include the date and place of every transaction (say lease, acquiring, mortgage, partition, sale, etc. Call it LAMPS) to enhance clarity and accountability. As deeds and transactions can be registered with any sub-registrar there has to be a process for immediate linking of land registration (LAMPS) with director of survey who can maintain a locality-wise record in each district. A permanent digital record of the state shall be maintained in state directorate and updated regularly. District record rooms need be made accessible to any citizen (as RTI Act prescribes). Today ‘non-encumbrance certificate’ can be applied for by any person; to be fool proof this has to be supported by a digital LAMPS record or its official number& date. A (master record) must be kept with director of survey with one additional director updating record every week with help from district survey office, in a standby record’. Every day when registration is done in any part of the state, the land records of a District and Taluk survey office and the village office shall automatically get updated. This record keeping must receive as much importance as cash register of banks or reserve bank. Such records shall be locked through a pass word by director of survey. Any default or unauthorized attempt to manipulate record has to be dealt with deterrent punishment. LAMPS of every day would be recorded automatically like a bank does with cash register at the end of each day. As the satellite picture (digital) of every block and field is available in the public domain, it will be easier to handle and verify maps and field records. Land however small has an emotional attachment to the owner who gets considerable stress. While Law, law makers, litigants and law abiding citizens would stand to benefit by this process, law breakers can be easily identified and be largely isolated. Lawyers would be able to deal with cases faster which would encourage more law abiding people to seek their service. When disputes get reduced, public men and public servants get time to work for human development in their constituencies. more  

It is the failure of endowment commissioner. Let the religious properties be saved. more  

The encroachments are fully supported by the politicians. So the question of action against encroachments by TRS, TDP or Congress does not arise. This is happening is every State and ultimately the Courts had to intervene and pass necessary orders after receiving PILs. Due to corruption and vote bank politics, the governance in every State has been thrown in gutters. The officers cannot act without getting a signal from the ruling party and in the process they become partners in mis-governance. Due to these reasons, the Judiciary is doing many jobs which actually the Executive should do routinely. more  

In a "secular" country, the majority's religious faith or sanctity of their religious places have no importance. The former PM MM Singh had publicly declared that only a particular minority group/community has the sole right on the resources of this country. more  

It is never without the blessings of the elected representatives that land is grabbed. So we need better candidates for elections and better representation in the legislatures. Only then these issues will stop. How many from this forum are looking to be actively involved in the upcoming elections and support good candidates with their time, in campaigning? Let us not leave politics to the unscrupulous more