In a controversial move, the Congress government in Telangana has announced the abolition of “Dharani”, an integrated land records management system introduced by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.
In its place, the government has introduced a new system called “Bhu Bharati”, aimed at overhauling the revenue system, ensuring transparency in land transactions and protecting the rights of small and marginal farmers.
The state Revenue Minister P Srinivas Reddy tabled a new bill – Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights) Bill, 2024 - in the state assembly, seeking to revoke the earlier Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020, also known as “Dharani”, to ensure hassle-free land transactions.
“The Dharani land records portal had caused innumerable problems to people, as many of them complained of their land titles disappearing in the records. We have prepared the draft Bhu Bharati Bill after studying the record of the rights system in as many as 18 states. We kept it on the department website for 40 days to seek the opinions of MLAs and intellectuals, besides holding intense discussions in the district collectorates,” the minister said.
The proposed Bhu Bharati Bill has provision for the creation of “Bhudhar”, records for all land parcels across the state. The landholders would be given “Bhudhar” cards on the lines of Aadhaar cards, to protect their ownership rights as well as ensure access to the land details with a click of a mouse, he said.
The minister said that within three months, the rules for the 2024 Bill would be framed and awareness programmes would be conducted at Mandal and village levels.
Developed after thorough consultations with experts, public representatives, and farmers, the new Bill offers a comprehensive resolution to land-related issues, Reddy said, adding that the government studied revenue systems from 18 States and sought feedback from all stakeholders before drafting the Bill.
Reddy said the absence of a unique identification number for land parcels was leading to boundary disputes and was also proving a hurdle in maintaining revenue records. Hence, it was decided to create a unique land parcel identification number.
The bill provides for a redressal mechanism for the rectification of entries in the Record of Rights and would create an appeal mechanism at different levels. It also has a provision for the preparation of new Record of Right after re-survey and updating of the existing records. “This will help several landowners who complained of numerous mistakes creeping into their land records,” Reddy said.
The bill also provides for the regularisation of “sada bainama”, land transactions done on plain paper, for which over 900,000 applications were received in the past. Besides creating a user-friendly and hassle-free online portal for maintaining the record of rights, the bill also aims at protecting government lands.
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