OKARA, Sept 7: Corruption continues to flourish in the revenue department without any check.

Spearheaded by the patwaris, the revenue men won’t do even a petty work if the applicant/visitor does not offer them money.

Besides extortion, they indulge in overcharging while executing and documenting property deals.

Official dues for the issuance of a ‘fard’ (ownership deed) is Rs30 whereas the patwaris charge Rs100 to 200. Apart from overcharging, the patwaris make people pay several visits to them to get the ownership deed.

Similarly, the mutation fee is Rs200 per document which is received by the sub-registrar at the time of registering the document or the sale deed. But the buyer has to approach to a patwari with a photocopy of registered documents and extra Rs300 for the city and Rs500 for the rural area.

At the back of that five photocopies of the registered documents have to be furnished to a patwari, a kanungo, a naib tehsildar or a tehsildar for comparison with the original deed.

Since the British period till the second term of Mian Nawaz Sharif, there had been no mutation charges on the inherited property. But after that Rs200 were fixed for the mutation of the property to legal heirs following the death of parents.

At present, the patwaris are charging minimum Rs150 for this purpose. Besides, the legal heirs are legally bound to bring two local property holders and the lumberdar for the identification of legal heirs.

The people have strongly protested over the cumbersome procedure and the exploitation by patwaris and demanded that District Nazim Syed Sajjad Haider and DCO Khalid Masood should take stock of the situation.