Revenue minister irked by pending applications

Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa on Friday took the officials to task for delay in clearing applications under various schemes.

Presiding over the progress review meeting, the minister lost his cool over officials not disposing of files for several years. Making a particular mention of pending applications under ‘C’ and ‘D’ category of lands, the minister promised to arrive on a consensus after holding a meeting with senior officials of Forest Department.

The minister lost his cool again, mentioning that Kodagu is one among four districts in the state with the most applications awaiting clearance. “A whopping 11,000 applications remain to be cleared, under Sections 94A and 94B and should be cleared before December,” he instructed.

Promising to sort out land-related issues in the district in phases, he directed the officials to ensure that applicants for sites get the ownership at the earliest, while a circular has been issued asking the tahsildars to hold related meetings. Notices should be served to the applicants and related documents issued, without waiting for him or her to remit the amount, the minister added.

Meanwhile, when Madikeri MLA K G Bopaiah bemoaned over scuttling some of the powers of legislators, the minister pacified him saying it is to ensure speedy disposal of applications.

Taking cognisance of ‘C’ and ‘D’ category lands again, the minister recalled that earlier, the lands were handed over to the Forest Department, for afforestation. The Department has failed in this regard. Besides, the issue of jamma and baane lands remains to be solved, with plans in the offing to impose cess on the same, which will be decided after a meeting in Bengaluru.

Weekly meeting
The minister directed the tahsildar to hold weekly meetings on Saturdays, with tahsildars, panchayat development officers (PDOs) and village accountants (VA), and submit a report to the DC.

When a tahsildar cited legal hurdles in issuing tillers certificate for those who grow coffee plants on bagair hukum land, the minister read out the rules related to Land Reforms Act. “Those who had applied under Rule 50 are entitled to avail of the benefit under Rule 53, after bringing an amendment into the same. Accordingly, their application for tilling should be considered,” he added.
In-charge officer of the Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) Suresh was asked to dispose of applications under the Right to Forest Act, at the earliest. Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Edukondalu was asked to take a call on encroachment of forest lands.

No burial grounds
Of the total 287 villages coming under 104 gram panchayats in the district, 104 villages have no burial grounds. Following this, the minister directed the district administration to take a call at the earliest.

Virajpet MLA Appachu Ranjan, MLC Veena Achaiah, Deputy Commissioner Richard Vincent D’Souza, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Charulatha Somal, Additional Deputy Commissioner M Satish Kumar were present.