High Court Notice to Telangana Govt on Dharani portal Clarification

The Government of Telangana stated that the new Dharani land portal would make the digital record of private property accessible to the public and end the illegal revenue and registration in offices. 

In responding to a High Courts Order, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has mentioned that it is designed to consolidate all the rights records in one place rather than leave them at panchayats in villages, and municipal bodies in urban areas, which would direct them to make fraud at the offices.

Dharani One-Stop Solution of Property Transactions

In a declaration submitted before the tribunal, the CS claimed that the Dharani portal not only ensures smooth registration, succession and partitioning transactions but also allows the property to be mutated immediately and quickly.

He addressed the apprehensions of the lawyer Gopal Sharma, who challenged the validity of Dharani in his PIL as well as the legal basis. The CS said Dharani is a single-window solution to all the conditions that afflict the state records.

However, the CS claimed that it needed amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act, the Act on Municipalities and the GHMC Act, covers both agricultural and non-agricultural properties, to ensure that there was no separate Dharani support legislation, as the government does not make anything new.

The Telangana Lands and Pattadar Passbook Act of 1971 was also abolished and incorporated into the Pattadar Passbooks Act of 2020. This legal basis is adequate, and no new legislation is needed.

The CS also claimed that the Constitution, through Article 300-A, has given protection to property rights and that Dharani seeks in a misguided way to improve this. Owners themselves can enter the details through MeeSeva centres, and aggrieved persons will always have the option of approaching civil courts if there are any disputes.

He said property registration in the new system is linked to the ownership of property. Therefore only the owners could sell or transact their property on a protected end-to-end platform combining both registration and transformation. Discretion has been withdrawn from the authorities in deciding the market value of the property since the portal contains all this information.

Dharani portal also has identity validation requirements, though digital signatures are permitted for registration transactions. The issue of land records still holding the names of ancestors and dead persons will no longer be there. The entry of current owners will scientifically take place thereby removing the scope for malpractices, the Court said.

He stated that the new discretion given to sub-registrars was abolished in the new framework, saying that Dharani would allow only the legal owners to transact.

By: Shailaja K