Indian Express 03.12.2010
Civic body out to claim acquired land, but finds no records for decades
With land scams on the rise in city, the Pune Municipal Corporation has embarked on a drive to ensure that the plots acquired by it remain intact. As a first step, it has decided to get its name registered on the 7x12 extracts and property card so that there is no illegal dealings on its land.
The PMC, however, finds itself in a peculiar situation after the State Land Records Department has sought registered documents of land acquisition — it found that there was no such practice for decades. “The PMC has been registering its name in the 7x12 extract or property card for land acquired since 2003. However, the civic body had not changed the revenue records for land acquired from 1960 till 2003,” said deputy municipal commissioner and PMC land acquisition and estate officer Sudhakar Telang.
Telang said there was also no record of the number of plots owned by the civic body, for which revenue records had not been done in the name of PMC. He said the number of such plots could be very high. “The administration came across a new problem with the Land Records Department asking for the registered documents of land acquisition, which are not available with the civic body as it was not a practice in the past. The land owners were given compensation and the acquisition was done physically.”
Civic activist Vijay Kumbhar said the administration had failed to implement a foolproof system to ensure that there is no illegal dealing of plot it has acquired. “The PMC acquires land and if it remained undeveloped for long, then there is scope of illegal dealings. The administration should immediately change the ownership records on 7x12 extract and property card.”
Kumbhar said the personnel appointed to protect the land had also failed to perform their responsibilities, which increased the chances of illegal dealings or encroachment. He said the transfer of development rights (TDR) system for compensating the land acquired should be foolproof so that there would be no instances of compensation being sought twice for the same property.
