HYDERABAD: Worried over the government’s decision to do away with advocates at the revenue tribunals, the Bar Council of Telangana (BCT) has urged chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to rescind the move and allow lawyers to argue the cases of landowners.
“They may lose rights over their valuable properties and hence, presence of advocates to effectively put forward their case is essential,” A Narasimha Reddy, chairman of BCT said. The BCT even got the issue studied by an eight-member committee soon after the government’s decision, he stressed. He said the names of the landholders will have to be changed following transactions like sale, succession, transfer, inheritance, etc. “The landholders need proper assistance at the time of seeking mutations and denying entry to lawyers would effectively mean denying assistance to them,” the council chief said.
All special tribunals are headed by district and additional collectors. They were given timelines to dispose of the cases. “They are not allowing the advocates to argue the cases of the landowners citing lack of instructions from the government. The purpose of the new revenue regime would be defeated if these tribunals deny principles of natural justice,” the committee of the bar council pointed out. When pattadar passbook-cum-title deed is recognised as a piece of evidence to prove a title and when farmers are allowed to avail loans on basis of such titles, it is not correct to deny legal assistance to the owners who are fighting for such titles, committee said.
It further said old Record of Rights Act allowed the advocates to argue the cases before the revenue authorities. “It is unfair on the part of the authorities constituted under a special tribunal to deny advocate assistance to parties,” the committee reasoned.
A Narasimha Reddy, chairman of BCT, said farmers and landowners will not be able to present their case in a proper format before the tribunals