LAHORE, Nov 23: Computerisation of land revenue record after amendments to the Punjab Land Revenue Act of 1967 will eliminate exploitation by the patwaris in the province as it will withdraw their two main functions — issuance of copies of or extracts from the revenue record and entertainment of mutations.

The amended law would also make it a responsibility of the government to transfer registered property, which would further save people from the exploitation by the patwaris. Getting the registered documents transferred in their names is the responsibility of the people concerned according to the current practice, which leaves them at the mercy of the patwaris.

After the passage of the amendment bill submitted in the Punjab Assembly last week, the people concerned would get computerised copies of or extracts from the revenue record from service centres to be set up by the government without any hassle or interference of patwaris.

And to ensure that the applicants have obtained the documents in the first instance, their visits would be recorded through their thumb impressions at the doors of the centres. The doors would only be opened after thumb impressions to testify as to how many times an applicant had visited a centre, officials informed Dawn here on Thursday.

According to them, the visitors would be recognised through their thumb impressions by a direct and regular access to the computerised national identity card record of Nadra already having the related data. It would, therefore, be necessary for an applicant to have a computerised identity card to have access to the service centres.

The system would save the public from the exploitations by the patwaris who previously refused to entertain any revenue record-related request if their terms were not fulfilled. And in case of a complaint to higher authorities, the patwaris would pretend that the applicant had not visited them as there was no system to record the visits.

The process of land-record computerisation in all districts would be undertaken in a phased manner. There would be a one-year transition period during which the manual and computerised record would be synchronised.

After the expiry of this period, the patwaris could not maintain manual records. They would also be no longer authorised to issue copies of or extracts of mutations as both these functions would be transferred to the service centre to be established by the Board of Revenue. Those acquiring rights in land would have an option to report their acquisition to the service centres or the patwaris concerned during the transition period.

Any alteration in the computerised record could be made only in the prescribed manner. Penalties for neglecting to report an acquisition of rights under the manual or the computerised systems would also be enhanced. However, in case of acquisition of right through a registered document, it would be the duty of the registering officer to report the acquisition right to patwari (during the transition period) or the service centre officials concerned.

Officials said after the cut-off dates, the patwaris could not legally maintain land record or keep it in their possession. They could, however, maintain and prepare gardawri (relating to agriculture produce), shamlat statements and field maps. But it would not be possible for them to temper with the computerised record.

The project is scheduled to complete in seven years. The first phase is being funded by the World Bank which is giving a loan of $46 million for the purpose. The interest-free loan is payable in 35 years, having a grace period of 10 years.

Besides, the operational costs would be mostly funded by the World Bank up to 18 months after the operationalisation. Afterwards, recurrent costs would be provided to the districts by the provincial government.

The amendments to the draft law have been prepared by a team of government officials, including BoR land revenue specialist Ali Mohammad Khokhar, Law Department’s Director Legislation and Parliamentary Affairs Mohsin Abbas Syed and Project Director Ali Raza Bhutta.