About 3.2 lakh private lands are wrongly categorized as government lands in revenue records, making the process of patta transfer difficult, says the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the state assembly on Friday.
The report named “performance audit on land records management in Tamil Nadu” covers the land records updated till March 31, 2021. The report has lauded the state government for increase in digitization of land records, leading to improvisation of access and transparency. However, the report finds serious faults like deficiencies in data linkages between registration and revenue departments and discrepancies in ownership details.
“At the time of computerising urban land records, 6.2 lakh private land parcels were erroneously captured as ‘sarkar nanjai/punjai’. As of March 2021, three lakh such cases have been rectified. The continued erroneous classification of remaining 3.2 lakh private land parcels as government land in the computerised land records has put the land owners to hardship,” the report says.
Detailing the report, C Nedunchezhian, principal accountant general (audit-1) Tamil Nadu, told reporters that in case of private land being categorised as government land, the land owners concerned have to approach district collector to get the land ownership changed to their name. “It is a matter of serious concern that owners of about 3.2 lakh land parcels are put to hardship in getting ‘patta’ transfers. The issue was prevalent across 30 districts,” said Nedunchezhian.
Another key finding is that in the case of many lands acquired from private parties for government projects, land records have not been updated with the ownership change. Many such cases were reported in Tiruppur district. It makes it susceptible for misuse, the report says.
