Summary:
The Punjab Land Revenue (Haryana Amendment) Bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha has been sent to Governor SN Arya for his assent.
Although the Governor is battling Covid-19 infection after he tested positive on November 16, but sources said that he is likely to give his assent to the contentious Bill.
Haryana government’s move to introduce an amendment in the Punjab Land Revenue Act, is likely to benefit big colonisers and land sharks more than the common man.
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The Punjab Land Revenue (Haryana Amendment) Bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha has been sent to Governor SN Arya for his assent.
Although the Governor is battling Covid-19 infection after he tested positive on November 16, but sources said that he is likely to give his assent to the contentious Bill.
Haryana government’s move to introduce an amendment in the Punjab Land Revenue Act is likely to benefit big colonisers and land sharks more than the common man.
It was in 2013 when Haryana’s senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka had pointed out various prime chunks of land in Gurgaon and Faridabad that were usurped by the “powerful business-politico-bureaucratic-police lobby” with no interest in agricultural or cultivation activities.
The then Congress government too, allegedly attempted to use Consolidation Act as a tool for the partition of prime chunks of land including forest lands.
Khemka had then suggested that a thorough probe by an independent investigating agency could “expose the game of the land sharks”.
However, the current amendment passed by the Vidhan Sabha with BJP-JJP combine in majority is also likely to extend a similar benefit to the builder lobby, active in the National Capital Region.
Sources disclosed that after the Bill was passed by the Vidhan Sabha, Khemka has again written to the Governor apprising him of certain points that should to be looked into before he accords his assent.
In case of partition of the land owned by co-sharers, while the amendment puts the primary onus on the shareholder seeking partition to inform other co-sharers, it is likely to raise several practical issues giving an advantage to the co-sharer living in the village over those who are living at distant places away from the land in question.
Sources disclosed that Khemka has pointed out that in several cases, the revenue records do not contain addresses of co-sharers.