Deadly disagreements

Very recently, there was a major incident in the Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh where several people lost their lives due to a dispute over land. My experience as an administrator in UP has been that land disputes, particularly in rural areas, are a major cause for violence between groups and individuals, and most of the offences to the human body are related to this. Effective governance of land-related matters can bring down the crime rate substantially, and ensure maintenance of public peace and order.

The land in rural areas is administered by the revenue department, with the Patwari (Lekhpal) at the village level, Tehsildar at the Tehsil level, and the sub-divisional officer and district collector at the sub division and district levels, respectively. It is the responsibility of the collector, through his revenue officers, to maintain a proper record of land ownership and possession. This work used to be of the highest importance in the past when land revenue was the major source of revenue for the government. Today, the contribution of land revenue to the resources of a state is negligible, as income tax, GST and other sources have taken over. Yet, the function of maintaining proper land records is of the greatest importance, as it determines the ownership of agricultural land. The Patwari wields a lot of power at the village level because he is the custodian of the land records and, with one stroke of his pen, can change the entries in the land records, or omit to record a legitimate entry, which can change the lives of the people concerned. The UP Government changed the name of this functionary from Patwari to Lekhpal but this has not diminished the power of this authority. Even today, at the village level, the citizens are in great awe of two Government functionaries — the Patwari and the station officer of the local police station, popularly known as Daroga. In the past, correction and inspection of land records were among the most important functions of the district collector and his team. I recall that as a district collector, I used to carry out inspections of villages, and during these inspections, I would sit under a tree surrounded by the village folk and read out the entries from the land records to verify them. Inevitably, I used to find that even in the cases where a land owner had died, the name of his successor had not been entered in the records; one had to do so on the spot. However, if there were other nature of disputes, then it had to be referred to the competent revenue court for decision. Since land offers livelihood to farmers, this is the cause for a lot of corruption amongst revenue officials at the ground level.

A measure to curb this corruption has come through the intervention of technology in the form of computerisation of land records. Today, all land records are maintained online, and it is very easy to obtain a copy of the same from the computer installed at Tehsil. This has considerably reduced the power of the Patwari. I remember implementing computerisation of land records at the district level, and facing a lot of opposition from the Patwaris and other revenue officials. In fact, I remember taking a decision to distribute the copies of land records to each land holder in the district, so that he is aware of his rights. However, this got into a lot of procedural and legal issues.

Most land-related matters, including mutation of name, demarcation of land, or issues relating to title come up before the revenue courts where there is huge pendency of cases, and the disputes or issues linger on for years without resolution — more often than not leading to crime and violence. After the Deoria incident, when the UP Government reviewed the pendency of cases in the state, it found that 18.4 lakh cases were pending in revenue courts. 2.5 lakh of these were pending for more than five years, 2.6 lakh for more than three years, and 3.1 lakh between 1 and 3 years. A drive has been launched for the disposal of these cases, but such efforts have been made in the past as well. They yield results for a short while, and then it's back to square one. Today, the land revenue courts have also been computerised, making it possible to dispose of matters faster. However, the concerned officers devote less time to court work, and lawyers also frequently request adjournments, leading to persistent delays. In fact, revenue officers often have a significant workload, including law and order, protocol duties, civil supplies, and development work, which they find more satisfying and glamorous than court work. Consequently, officers tend to give the lowest priority to their judicial work. I believe the only way out is to increase the number of revenue officers in a district and designate some of them exclusively for court work. This is necessary to protect the common citizen at the village level from exploitation and to minimise incidents of violence and murder, as occurred in Deoria.

My experience as district collector revealed that small land-related disputes at the village level, if left unresolved, can escalate into major conflicts and enmities between families, leading to serious law and order problems. During my tenure as the chief secretary of UP, I devised a system for resolving these land disputes by making it the joint responsibility of local revenue and police officials. Every day, numerous applications are submitted at the Thana, Tehsil, and collectorate regarding land disputes. Most of these disputes can be resolved if officers visit the villages, sit down with both parties, and find a solution. Some disputes may require the intervention of the local Patwari and police officers, while those of a more serious nature can be escalated to the level of the concerned sub-divisional officers. Major issues may even require the district collector and the superintendent of police to visit the village together. All these disputes should be entered into the computer system and monitored rigorously, with accountability clearly defined. I found that this approach had a salutary effect, preventing many serious crimes and law and order issues. To avoid situations like Deoria, this system needs to be made mandatory.

Quick disposal of revenue cases and resolution of land-related disputes at the village level jointly by revenue and police officers will lead to effective governance and reduction in crime and other incidents related to disturbance of public order. Deoria-like situations should not be allowed to take place again.

The writer is an ex-Chief Secretary, Govt of Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed are personal