Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s proposal to bring in reforms and a new revenue Act to ensure time-bound services to people without paying bribes to revenue department employees has apparently put the department in self-correction mode.
Tehsildar offices in various mandals across the State have begun to put up notice boards prominently declaring that their offices are corruption-free and that no person should pay any money for availing revenue services.
The applications submitted by people for revenue services would be disposed of within the stipulated time.
The notice boards also displayed the telephone numbers of tehsildar and deputy tehsildar and said that one could complain to them should any revenue employee from village revenue assistant, village revenue officer to revenue department staff demand money.
If officers like tehsildar and deputy tehsildar demanded money, one should complain against them to the Collector.
In the wake of the perception that the revenue employees were largely corrupt and would make people go round their offices for land revenue, pattadar passbook issues, the department officers decided to put up boards to create public awareness and give confidence to people that they should complain against such erring employees, said Telangana Revenue Employees Services Association (TRESA) president V. Ravinder Reddy.
TRESA, which organised a meeting of revenue employees and constituted a Joint Action Committee on Tuesday to protect the interests of revenue department employees, clarified that they were not opposed to reforms in the department or the new revenue Act. The JAC was formed to protect the rights of revenue employees and their job security and promotion and apprise the government that non-resolution of land records placed under disputed category of Part-B was the main reason for the negative perception about the department.
Association president V. Ravinder Reddy said 94% of land revenue records were verified and updated under the land record updation programme. The problem was with regard to 6% of land records because records had not been not updated for decades even after land changed hands. There were also boundary disputes, assigned lands etc. An expert committee be constituted to give guidelines for resolution of these issues and the revenue officers would abide by them, he said. The JAC would highlight these issues when it met TRS working president K. T. Rama Rao, he said. The employees may not resort to any direct action till the election process was completed on May 23 and, in the meantime, may take to wearing black badges to protest against the proposed merger of revenue employees with other departments and bringing all employees under the State Administrative Services to be promoted to the IAS cadre. In the present system, 80% of officers for the promotee IAS cadre are drawn from the Revenue department.