The 7/12 extracts and other land records, which are issued by Aaple Sarkar centres, will no longer be considered authentic documents for government-related work, says the latest order issued by the state government.
This clearly means those who want these records will have to once again get it from Talathi offices, which are considered to be dens of corruption. Talathi is the lowest revenue department official, functioning at the village level.
The previous government had given priority to digitisation of land records and made them available online in order to reduce human interface in these dealings. However, citing some cases of misuse of land records issued by Aaple Sarkar centres, the state government has decided to go back to the old system.
As per the new order issued by the government, the 7/12 extract and other land records will continue to be issued by Aaple Sarkar centres, but they can be used only for information and won’t be considered as official documents.
Getting land records in earlier system was made easy. One had to just enter the name of his/her village, taluka, district and survey number in the system, and the land record would be available.
In fact, Maharashtra’s efforts to digitise land records and bring transparency were lauded at national level.
Speaking with Mirror, state BJP’s spokesman Keshav Upadhyay said, “Can’t understand the rationale behind the state government’s decision. The Devendra Fadnavis government used technology to improve lives of people, but it seems this government wants to reverse all decisions taken by its predecessor.”
