Andhra Pradesh CM orders complete overhaul of revenue system

Amaravati, Dec 9 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday ordered a complete overhaul of the revenue system within a year and directed officials to simplify revenue services.

He asked them to implement the auto-mutation system in real time for 'pattadar' passbooks.

Addressing a review meeting on Revenue services at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister stated that landowners should not be forced to visit government offices repeatedly for pattadar passbooks.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that 1,97,915 complaints related to mutation and pattadar passbooks were received under the Public Grievance Redressal System (PGPRS). Of these, 1,00,835 complaints were related to land nature and classification disputes, 1,00,295 applications were filed after resurvey claiming reduced land extent, and 2,40,479 complaints were registered regarding Joint Land Parcel Maps (LPMs).

The officials informed the Chief Minister that the resurvey has been completed in 6,693 villages, while 10,123 villages remain pending, and he directed that the entire resurvey process must be completed by December 2027.

He emphasised speedy resolution of LPM disputes and said that issuing Encumbrance Certificates (ECs) would become easier once land details are maintained in an online database. Applications seeking removal of lands from the 22-A prohibited list must be processed promptly, he added.

The Chief Minister stressed the need for utmost caution in dealing with 22-A freehold lands. He suggested introducing a robust system like blockchain to prevent tampering of land records and insisted that all land details be made transparent and available online to avoid disputes.

Until now, Joint Collectors had the authority to classify or remove lands as "disputed", but the Chief Minister directed that this authority be transferred to the Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs). He also ordered the speedy removal of dotted lands from the 22-A list. Assigned lands mortgaged with primary cooperative societies up to 1999 must also be removed from the 22-A list. Additionally, the Chief Minister instructed that barren lands with pre-1954 sale deeds in the Register of Holdings be removed from 22-A.

He said the assigned lands located within municipal limits should be regularised as per the Ministers’ Committee recommendations—plots up to 250 square yards should be regularised at fifty per cent of the base value. Assigned lands used for aquaculture must be regularised at the Sub-Registrar value.

The Chief Minister said a system must be developed to ensure that students who complete Class 10 standard receive their caste certificates immediately. Income certificates should be issued based on information integrated with RTGS. He said the revenue target stands at Rs 10,169 crore and asked the officials to update land values in accordance with market values.

The officials said that the Revenue Department received 5,28,217 grievances, of which 4,55,189 have been resolved in the last six months. Around 73,000 grievances are under examination.

When the officials said that since June 2024, a total of 6,846 applications have been filed seeking removal of their land details from the 22-A list, the Chief Minister directed them that the lands belonging to ex-servicemen, political sufferers, freedom fighters, and those holding pre-1954 assigned lands should be removed from the 22-A list.

Revenue Minister Anagani Satyaprasad, Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) Sai Prasad, and CCLA officials participated in the review meeting.

--IANS

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