Patta transfer applicants are suffering at the hands of corrupt officers

There is no respect for Rule of Law in some of Taluka Offices of Tamil Nadu in relation to change of Patta or mutation of immovable property situated in areas under its revenue jurisdiction. As per Citizen Charter of Revenue Department of Tamil Nadu, the Deputy Tahsildar is bound to make necessary changes in the Patta within 15 days of receiving the application from the applicant or owner of the property. However, in reality, nothing happens without paying the bribe to the authorities. Even the online application system for effecting changes in Patta of agricultural lands also did not deter them from demanding the bribe from the applicant.

Role of Village Administrative Officer

Although the final authority for making changes in the Patta is Deputy Tahsildar, the Village Administrative Officer of a particular Revenue Village needs to examine the field as well as property documents and gives the report to the Deputy Tahsildar for effecting necessary changes in the said Patta or revenue record. In other words, an application for Patta will have to pass through the Village Administrative Officer of the respective revenue villages, where the said land is located.

Misuse of power

By taking advantage of this situation, some Village Administrative Officers receive the bribe from innocent citizens ranging from Rs.2000/- to Rs.20000/- according to the properties involved and also according to the parties involved. If an applicant is poor or uneducated, then the officer tries to extract the largest sum as a bribe. In spite of getting the bribe from the poor person, the officer will treat him/her in an undignified way.

The application of the applicant who refuses to pay a bribe would be kept in a pending mode for months. Then suddenly, he/she will get an SMS from the Taluka Office/Deputy Tahsildar stating “your application has been rejected”. And no reasons will be given at all. Thereby violating the principle of natural justice of the applicant. An applicant has to make the extra effort of sending an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 for seeking reasons for rejection of his'/her Patta application.

I get to know that the Village Administrative Officer collects the bribe and share a particular percentage with the Deputy Tahsildar, who is the final authority for executing changes in the revenue records/Pattas. In fact, few Village Administrative Officers openly seek bribe by stating that “I need to submit accounts of bribe taken to the Deputy Tahsildar” while justifying his demand for a bribe from the applicants.

.

Cost of not giving bribe

Because of this illegal and inhuman act of revenue officers, many rural citizens are not able to avail of various government schemes and have to face the inconvenience of taking Xerox copies of voluminous registered property documents for every loan application. If a person possesses Patta in his name, then he does not need to provide registered copies of property documents for getting loans like crop loans, cattle loans, cattle-shed loans, etc. By providing a single copy of the Patta would be enough for proving the possession of a particular property. Therefore, the applicant who pays the bribe for getting the patta transferred faces losses for a single time whereas the one who defies corrupt officers ends up a loser for his life until some honest officer considers his lawful application as per rule of law.

Therefore, the time has come to report such incidences to their higher authority so that they can be punished as per the law. If the higher authority fails to act, then we should consider approaching the Vigilance Commission or even Court seeking appropriate relief as per the procedure established by the law.

#Patta #bribe #DeputyTasildar #VAO