Karnataka to curb land compensation fraud: Online system in the works

Bengaluru: A new online system to track land-acquisition processes could soon help the state government tackle rampant irregularities, which have resulted in the misappropriation of massive amounts of taxpayer money.

For example, Karnataka is staring at a staggering financial burden of Rs 2 lakh crore to compensate land losers in the Upper Krishna Project (UKP), a major irrigation scheme in north Karnataka, due to lapses by officials. 

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told DH that the new system should be ready in 3-4 months. 

"Fixing compensation rates, loading guidance values to prevent their manipulation, tracking of court cases...all this and more can be monitored in the online system," Gowda said. 

The minister was blunt, saying that "big mistakes" had been committed "for long" in land acquisition and payment of compensation to land losers.

While Gowda expects the new system to address 50-60 per cent of the issues, he called for “a higher level of involvement” by the government to end fraud. 

Gowda cited the example of the UKP. "The approved land acquisition cost was Rs 17,000 crore," he pointed out.

However, the land acquisition cost shot up, with civil courts hiking the compensation rates fixed by officials. The court-ordered rates range from Rs 74 lakh to Rs 23.5 crore per acre for various types of land. "Had officials filed timely appeals before courts, we'd not be facing this burden," Gowda said. 

The government has to pay Rs 66,000 crore for 29,400 acres already acquired. "We're yet to acquire 1.04 lakh acres. And, if we go by court-ordered rates, we're looking at a compensation of Rs 2.01 lakh crore. Which government can afford this?" Gowda asked.

Last year, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the water resources minister, told the Assembly that government advocates were "colluding" with a "big cartel" that seeks sky-high compensation rates for UKP land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement.

Even the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) ended up paying an "extra" Rs 3,000 crore due to malpractices in land acquisition.

Gowda said the NHAI has written twice to the state government, saying it will have to scale down projects in the state if the land-acquisition process is not streamlined. 

Pointing out the machinations of land losers, Gowda said, "We've seen that the land acquisition is deliberately delayed. This time is used (by officials) to buy land or convert it for non-agricultural use before acquisition to claim better compensation." 

Agricultural land yields better compensation compared to dry land. Eyeing money, a few people who own dry land plant crops overnight, just before acquisition, to make it look like agricultural land.

"This was found in a case at Narsapura in Kolar. All that the officials had to do before fixing compensation was to check satellite imagery to ascertain the truth of the land," the minister said. 

"Only a portion of a converted piece of land is eligible for compensation. But in several cases, 100% of the land got compensation," Gowda added.

Diabolical moves In UKP, approved land acquisition cost was Rs 17,000 cr; but acquisition cost shot up, with civil courts hiking compensation rates  DKS had claimed that govt advocates were "colluding" with a "big cartel" that seeks sky-high compensation rates for UKP In some cases, land acquisition is deliberately delayed; time is used by officials to buy land or convert it  A few people who own dry land plant crops overnight, just before acquisition, to make it look like agri land

"Fixing compensation rates loading guidance values to prevent their manipulation tracking of court cases...all this and more can be monitored in the online system," said Krishna Byre Gowda Revenue Minister