GUJRAT: The Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) has formally expressed concern over the Board of Revenue (BoR) plan to recruit computer literate patwaris, besides giving the power of sanctioning the mutation of property transaction to revenue officers (tehsildar/naib tehsildar) at the new Satellite Arazi Record Centres (SARCs).

Apprehensions were already growing among the PLRA field staff, including assistant director land record (ADLR), land record officer (LRO), service centre officials (SCOs), of being gradually replaced by the traditional staff of land revenue department such as patwari, gardawar, naib tehsildar and tehsildar.

Reflecting this concern, PLRA Chairman MPA Ahmad Ali Dreshak has written a letter to the senior member board of revenue (SMBR) on Nov 10, 2020, in which he cited minutes of an official meeting held on Oct 23 the last in this regard. He said the PLRA was concerned at the decisions made at the meeting regarding recruitment of computer literate patwaris and granting power to sanction mutation of property to the revenue officer concerned at the SARCs across Punjab.

Mr Dreshak pointed out that the decision was not in line with that of another meeting of all stakeholders held in March 2020, that the PLRA field staff would be appointed at the SARCs, which would also be monitored by the PLRA headquarters.

He added that in March’s meeting there was a unanimity that patwaris were not capable of performing duty at the ARCs. The PLRA was already in process of recruiting at least 500 new staffers for the ARCs through the Punjab Public Service Commission, he mentioned.

He recommended assignment of duties to the PLRA field staff at the SARCs to make them operational as soon as possible.

Mr Dreshak also recommended to the SMBR to issue a strict deadline to patwaris for extending cooperation to the PLRA staff in order to computerise the land record of different Mauzas (villages). He said the exercise has been pending since long, causing losses to the government exchequer as well as inconvenience to the public.

The Punjab BoR had already directed the deputy commissioners across the province to make necessary preparations and nominate the staff for making SARCs functional, may be from November 15 at the Qanoongoi level.

As per Punjab government plan, as many as 145 new SARCs will become functional in as many tehsils of Punjab, where tehsildar, naib tehsildar, gardawar, patwari or the staff of DC office concerned will be deployed, whereas the existing staff of these centres will also assist these land revenue officials.

Moreover, the staff being nominated by the DCs will also be given training by the PLRA to perform duties at these centrs.

The DCs have also been directed to provide proper buildings, computers and human resource for these centres being established in addition to the existing 152 ARCs in various tehsils of Punjab.

Out of the 115 ARCs planned at the Qanoongoi level, 32 have already become functional and 32 more are ready to go operational. The PLRA has recently launched 20 mobile vans for the service delivery across the province.

The new ARCs are an extention of the existing ones and will be connected with the main centres through satellite.

Earlier, the Qanoongoi level ARCs had been established in the areas having 5,000 or more annual transactions of property to reduce the rush at the tehsil-level centres. The new SARCs may also be launched at the revenue circle level as per requirement.

A senior official blamed “certain elements” within the BoR and the bureaucracy who wanted to abolish PLRA and replace it with the old mechanism with traditional revenue staff. He said that was why the BoR did not allow the job regularisation and service structure for the PLRA field staff so far.

On the other hand, the BoR has already advertised the jobs of tehsildars and naib tehsildars in Punjab through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), whereas requisition for the recruitment of at least 5,000 patwaris in Punjab had also been made to the government.

Nadia Cheema, an additional director and spokesperson for the PLRA, however, told Dawn that the computerised land record system was not being rolled back. She said since the PLRA was facing a shortage of field staff for appointment at these new centres, the services of the DC office staff were sought for the purpose.

About the new jobs advertisement by BoR, she said it was not clarified yet that where the new revenue officers would be posted.

She termed the launch of SARCs a value addition to the existing Land Record Management Information System (LRMIS).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2020