228 deputy tahsildars promoted to clear backlog at revenue offices

Addressing reporters here, Reddy said the responsibilities and duties of the newly deputed officers would be chalked out soon.

The officers will come under the Grade-2 cadre and will not have magisterial powers, unlike the Grade-1 tahsildars, the minister said.

According to sources in the Revenue department, the promoted officers were drawn from a seniority list of deputy tahsildars. The promotions were pending for some time and the final orders were issued on June 3.

Reddy said he would meet Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa with a proposal to increase the annual income limit for beneficiaries to avail of the social security benefits.

The present limit stipulated by the government is Rs 11,800 per annum (rural areas) and Rs 24,000 in urban areas.

Social security benefits

Those who come within the above income limit can avail of the social security benefits like fee concession in educational institutions, old-age pension, merit scholarships and medical insurance scheme of the government like Arogya Kavacha, the officials said.

Reddy said he had proposed to the Education department to adopt the Tamil Nadu model of providing self-declared income certificates during admissions.

Presently, students have to obtain income certificates from the office of tahsildar.

Laptops

The minister said that the government planned to provide laptops to Nemmadi Kendras to be used during power cuts. The laptops will serve as a backup for desktop computers during power cuts, he said.

He said the Revenue department also planned to extend the online registration facility available at the Gandhinagar sub-registrar office in Bangalore, to other parts of State in a phased manner.

Reddy said he would conduct surprise inspection of district offices on a weekly basis to improve the administration and also get a firsthand account of the ground realities.

The State government is likely to revisit the process of regularising unauthorised cultivation on bagar hukum lands. The minister said over 10 lakh applications received from farmers (cultivating on bagar hukum land and seeking ownership rights) since 1991, had been rejected for non-compliance of norms.

The government, in an effort to help farmers, plans to revisit the proposals at least in those cases where there has been change in the landscape since the filing of the application, Reddy said. The government had recently amended the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, to extend the deadline for regularisation of bagar hukum lands among others by another year.