State may replicate UP's revenue model to tackle land disputes

Karnataka is keenly looking at the feasibility of replicating the ‘Board of Revenue’ model of Uttar Pradesh in a bid to reduce the pendency of land dispute cases in the State.

Preliminary discussion on the advantages of the model were held between Uttar Pradesh Revenue Minister Ambika Chaudhri, who is on a two-day official visit to the State and State Principal Secretary Revenue (Bhoomi and Urban Property Ownership Record) Rajeev Chawla in Bangalore, on Monday.

The Board of Revenue, which functions as the Chief Revenue Authority in Uttar Pradesh, has both administrative and judicial powers. Besides administrative powers that include tax collection, supervision of revenue divisions, maintenance of land records, the 10-member Board has been vested with judicial powers in revenue matters.

“Setting up an institution like the Board of Revenue would help in faster settlement of land disputes and lowering the pendency of such cases in lower courts”, Chawla told reporters at a joint press conference in Bangalore.

Chawla said the law had been accepted by the people and had stood legal scrutiny. According to the official website of the Board of Revenue, on an average, around 12,000 appeals/reference are disposed off in a year by the chairman and member of the board of administrative and judicial sides.

Another ‘best practice’ of  Uttar Pradesh that Karnataka is keenly looking at is a law that makes it compulsory to register wills in the state. The practice would help in curbing frauds besides checking ‘bad wills’ and disputes, Chawla said.

On his part, Chaudhri said he was impressed by Karnataka’s Bhoomi (on-line delivery and management of land records) project and  Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR). The two projects would be replicated in Uttar Pradesh on a time-bound basis, he said.

The minister visited Tumkur on Monday to get a first hand experience of the implementation of Bhoomi project and is scheduled to visit Mysore on Tuesday to study UPOR.

Chaudhri said both the states would be sharing a closer relationship in the future. “Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav enjoys a special relationship with the State as he did his higher education here (Mysore). He has invited Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to Uttar Pradesh”, he said.

Earlier in the day, Chaudhri called on Gowda at the latter’s Home Office ‘Krishna’.