Himachal Assembly passes bill to make time-bound disposal of revenue cases
Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed a new revenue amendment bill to make the disposal of revenue cases time-bound to reduce the pendency of thousands of cases in the states.
Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi stated that legislation was brought with the purpose of regulating the cases of revenue, titles, and rights of people related to land. Intervening in the discussion Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that amendment was desired for the last 69 years in the revenue acts. The Government wanted to improvise the stale system by amending the revenue laws as it was proposed to make the disposal of Registration, Mutation, Demarcation, and Partition cases time-bound. We would study the impact of the amendment for the next year. The amendment would not bring merely to amend the law but it was required to change the litigations which remained pending the revenue courts for decades. The Government has decided to fill up around 800 new posts in Patwari; however, the previous Government decided to open up a new Patwar Circle without filling any posts in Patwari. The Chief Minister said that currently there are around 500 vacant posts of Patwari in the State. He said that the filing of 272 Patari posts is already underway as the posts were sanctioned and are being filled soon. Mr Sukhu said that the government may change the amendment in the future if it does not work out to reduce the pendency however it was brought with the right motive.
Revenue Minister Mr. Jagat Singh Negi said that during the last few decades, a lot of changes have occurred in the socio, political, and technological arena which has a direct bearing on the revenue governance system. In order to meet the changing needs of the public at large, it has become essential to update the relevant provisions of this Act.
The Act requires changes to make it more effective and to address the difficulties and problems being faced by the people due to delays in the disposal of revenue cases. The Minister said that the large pendency of revenue cases is tarnishing the image of the justice delivery system.
Presently, there is no time period fixed for the disposal of the revenue cases in the existing provisions of the Act. In many revenue courts, the number of cases instituted is much higher than the number of cases disposed of for a particular time period causing a constant rise in the pendency of the cases. He said that about 22786 cases are pending in the revenue courts in the state of Mutations, 27127 of Demarcations, and 25705 of Partition.
The mutation of the rights acquired by any person requires a public hearing despite the fact that most such acquisitions of rights are undisputed. To expedite the process of mutation proceedings, the concept of public notice for inviting objection is required to be introduced.
The Procedure of land revenue assessment is lengthy and cumbersome, which causes an undue delay in completing the process of revised settlement. The land revenue is quite nominal and could not be enhanced beyond a prescribed limit even after following a detailed time-consuming procedure for its assessment.
The bill addresses the problem of delay in the decision of cases by making a time limit for deciding the cases by the Revenue Officers. The minister said in the revenue court that most of the revenue matters are stuck on account of delays in proper service upon the parties. He said that currently there are sufficient posts of Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar in the Revenue courts to make the disposal of cases time-bound as out of 170 Tehsils 138 posts are filled.
The legislation also ensures quick and proper service of summons, the provisions of electronic mode of summoning and summoning upon any adult members of the family of the addressee have been proposed.
The Summons may if the revenue officer of direct be served on the person named therein either in addition to or in substitution for any other mode of service of summon through SMS, WhatsApp, Electronic Mail(e-mail), or through another electronic mode at the phone number or electronic mail address.
The applicants or appellants should provide proof to the satisfaction of the Revenue Officer of the genuineness of the phone or electronic mail address being that of the recipient and the confirmed delivery report on the mail. The Applicant and appellants should provide proof regarding the phone number and mail.
The bill also provides for the charging of lump sum land revenue based on revenue assessed during the last settlement. The Bill proposed the amendment in 14 sections of the HP Revenue Act 1954 and inserted three new sections. Sec 17 -A proposed disposal of appeal, review, and revision by the collector, commissioner, and financial commissioner shall be decided within four years. The revenue officer for investigation officer after hearing the parties should furnish a report within two months.
The Revenue Officer should invite the objections for finalisation of mutation of acquisitions of right in case of no objections RO should pass an order as may deem fit. RO shall decide the proceedings of defining the boundaries within two months from the date of filing of the application. If RO fails to submit the report within two months he has to cite reasons for such delay. Section 138(A) ensures the time limit for the decision of partition cases would be within six months from the date of applications. It could be extended to three months by providing the reason to be recorded in writing. Under the legislation, the RV description of the fine may be extended to fifty rupees.
Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the government should have made provision of sufficient staff to such revenue courts before making such provision. He said that previous Governments have opened new Tehsil and opened new Revenue circles however instead of filling the posts state government is amending the Revenue Act which may further create Chaos. Mr Thakur said that bills should be referred to the select committee. The Speaker Kuldeep Pathaina supporting Mr. Thakur in sending the bill to the Select Committee said that LOP is correct to refer the bill to the committee as a Revenue Officer while exercising the power of Collectors could not be exercised the power of collectors being bound to dispose of cases under amended revenue act.
Randhir Sharma stated that the government came up with undue haste to amend the revenue act as it has not filled up the required posts of Tehsildar and Parwari in the postwar circle to make the disposal of revenue cases time-bound. He asked that the government explain how it could make the cases time-bound without filling the vacant posts. The amendment could not realize its main objective to dispose of the cases in time as most Revenue officers would give a reason for the lack of staff with them.
Tarilok Jamwal(Bilaspur) opposed the limitation of time in the Revenue Act stating that it would be in violation of the Central Limitation Act and the amendment should not be made. Satisfied with the reply made by Chief Minister and Revenue Minister the House passed the HP Revenue Amendment Act 2023 with a voice vote.
