Manual khatas not valid for property registration: minister

Directions have been issued to sub-registrars across the state not to entertain sale transactions of properties based on manual khatas and 11b documents.

Addressing a press meet here on Monday, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil said, his department had received information that properties had been registered on the basis of khatas and 11b documents in Bengaluru and a few other districts. Such registrations are invalid and people should not purchase properties based on these documents, he said.

Those who want to do a transaction on a gramathana or revenue property will have to get a digitised ‘A’ khata (form 9 generated using the e-swathu software) from the respective village panchayat. Illegal properties get form 11b (also called ‘B’ khata).

Referring to the recent case of illegal issuance of e-khatas for properties and their subsequent cancellations in five gram panchayats in Bengaluru North taluk, Patil said criminal cases have been filed against 14 people including panchayat secretaries and panchayat development officers. The department had approached the National Informatics Centre for the setting up of a dedicated website for accessing e-swathu documents. 

He said the prevailing rules were being amended to implement provisions under the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act. The law bestows minister of state status to zilla panchayat presidents besides a fixed tenure of five years.

Patil said that following severe drought in 139 taluks in the state, the Centre had raised the workdays under the job guarantee scheme from 100 to 150. If the drought persists, the Centre would be requested to increase the workdays to 200, he added.