S V GANDHI Vs. COLLECTOR THOOTHUKUDI DISTRICT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner by name S. V. Gandhi, a resident of soorappa Naickenpatti, Vilathikulam Taluk, Tuticorin District, has filed the above writ petition as a Public Interest Litigation against Circular dated 9-8-2004 of the District Revenue Officer, Tuticorin/2nd respondent herein which prescribes certain conditions/procedure for transfer of patta, intending to neglect the records maintained by the Village Administrative Officers like adangal Extracts etc. He also prayed as a consequential relief directing the respondents to follow the procedure regarding effecting transfer of patta in respect of agricultural lands transferred under registered documents in accordance with the Patta Pass Book Act, 1983 and the Patta Pass Book Rules, 1987.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is briefly stated hereunder: According to him, in respect of transfer of agricultural lands in the State of Tamil Nadu, provision is made to submit a transfer of patta application even while the documents of transfer like sale, exchange, mortgage, lease etc. , are registered in the Office of Registrar, to effect the transfer of Patta simple the procedure is laid down under Act 4/1986 namely tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, 1983 and Rules framed thereunder, namely, Patta pass Book Rules, 1987. THE said Act and Rules were in Tuticorin District till the impugned Circular issued by the 2nd respondent. As per Section 5 of the act, when transfer of lands effected under registered documents, at the time of registration of documents, the Patta Passbook must be produced and registration can be effected only after the necessary fees to effect entries relating to the transfer of patta is paid. On registration, the registering authority will report with the certified extract to the Tahsildar, who shall effect the change of fresh pass-book to the transferee. THE procedure for issuing fresh patta pass-book are enunciated under the Rules. Against the order of Tahsildar an appeal lies to the Revenue Divisional Officer and the District Revenue Officer in the form of revision. THE procedure contemplated under the Act and Rules show that the transfer of patta would be made without any delay with an easy process, namely, payment of transfer charge by Court fee of Rs. 7/- and the time prescribed for issue of patta is 15 days. However, in respect of transfer of patta effects at the time of registration of documents called (SRPT) has not been followed in Tuticorin District in spite of receiving the transfer charges in the form of Court Fees. THE persons are compelled to approach the authorities under direct transfer patta called DTR by paying further charges. Even under the Board Standing Orders, the procedure contemplated were very simple for transferring the Patta in respect of the transfer of property under registered documents which was followed by the statutory Act, namely, Patta pass Book Act, 1983 and Rules framed thereunder. While so, the District Revenue officer of Tuticorin District, namely, the second respondent has issued the impugned Circular dated 9-8-2004 giving revised guidelines for the procedure to effect transfer of patta both under SRPT and DTR on the basis of the implementation of computerization of land records under online service of Tamil nilam, giving a totally diametrical procedure ignoring the basic documents maintained at the level of Village Administrative Officer opposed to the Patta pass Book Act and Rules made thereunder. THE petitioner having retired as a village Administrative Officer made a request to the respondents for withdrawal of the impugned circular, but they have not taken any steps; hence filed the above writ petition before this Court.

(3.) WE have already referred to the relevant provisions regarding issue of patta pass book, presumption of correctness of entries, and making of entries of registration of alienation or tranfer in the patta pass book as well as appeal and revision. Though the petitioner has filed this writ petition by way of public interest litigation, as rightly stated in the counter affidavit of the District Revenue Officer, Tuticorin and pointed out by the learned Special Government Pleader, the provisions of the Act and the Rules have not been either dispensed with or taken away by introduction of computerisation. The impugned circular dated 9-8-2004, besides clarifying certain aspects, gave certain guidelines in respect of disposal of applications for change of patta. By introduction of "tamil Nilam" namely, computerisation of Land Records Programme, it ensures that land record data is fully computerised to use it for issue of copies of records of Rights as well as for faster proceeding and modification of existing data, tamper proof of data to reduce land dispute, portability and easy accessibility of data, immediate issue of computerised extracts of land records to the public, which is transparent and reduced corruption. In the counter affidavit, the District revenue Officer has stated that under the computerisation of Land Records programme, the basic revenue records have already been computerised. The preparation and issue of manual copies of extracts of village accounts have been banned, and declared that only computerised extracts of land records will be valid. Thus, according to the second respondent, the essential records like 'a'Register and Chitta maintained by the Village Administrative Officer have been computerised and periodical updation carried out to ensure that the data is error free. The progress of work under transfer of registry is being reviewed by the District Revenue Officer and the Special Commissioner and commissioner of Land Administration every month. At that stage, the representation of the public relating to delay on the part of the Village Administrative officer was noticed. In the counter affidavit it is also stated that as the said system, evoked a good response and considerable improvement was noticed in the disposal of transfer of registry applications, the district administration by a circular ordered the implementation of the revised procedure in processing applications for transfer of Registry.