GUJRAT: A tug of war between senior officers of the district administration has become a headache for the subordinate staff in the land revenue department.

This situation surfaced recently after the formal announcement of the completion of the settlement process of the land revenue record in the district around 12 days ago.

Settlement officer Ilyas Gill reportedly got annoyed with the subordinate staff at a meeting the other day that why the extra-assistant settlement officers (EASO) of all three tehsils and other subordinate staff reported the matter (of completion of the settlement) to the DCO without bringing the matter into his notice since the settlement process has not been fully completed.

Official sources said that Mr Gill had sought a written explanation from the Gujrat Extra-Assistant Settlement Officer Waqar Khan Gadhi since the latter was considered close to the DCO.

They added that the settlement process would only be completed after the signatures of the settlement officer on each and every register of the periodical record of the 1084 revenue estates of the district and the concerned officer was yet to sign the registers.

Though the entire revenue staff is legally bound to comply with the official order of the settlement officer till latter’s posting at Gujrat, the subordinate staff has been given orders by the DCO, ADC (Additional District Collector) and other senior officers such as the assistant commissioners and EASOs of all three tehsils.

It is learnt that the periodical record registers (Jamma Bandi) of the 1084 revenue estates (villages) of Gujrat district are yet to be prepared whereas the settlement in few areas of Gujrat tehsil is also yet to get completed.

The process cannot be completed till the authentication of the new settlement record and compiling of the periodical record of the entire revenue estates which means the settlement staff, including the SO, EASOs and others will have to stay posted in Gujrat (till the completion of the remaining process).

An official of the revenue department told Dawn that the settlement officials were deliberately delaying the process to keep the excuse of their posting here alive as some of them wanted to get assurance for posting against some other important posts in the district administration as lobbying for the Gujrat ADC post had been going on within the official circles.

He said that though the DCO was the district collector, the powers of the district collector would remain with the settlement officer till the completion of the settlement process.

He said that the settlement officer was present at the news conference in which DCO Liaqat Chatha formally announced the completion of the settlement process but still the SO expressed annoyance at the subordinate staff.

It is learnt that the pressure by the provincial government to complete the settlement process till Nov 15, 2014, had been the main reason behind the DCO’s announcement of completing the settlement which had already been delayed for at least seven years.

The settlement process was started by the end of 2002 and had to be completed within five years.

Ilyas Gill confirmed though the settlement process had been completed, some final touches at the finishing stage were required. He said there was no issue within the revenue department regarding the compliance of the orders.

He said that now the settlement record would enter the phase of authentication after which he would sign the periodical record registers.

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014