Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Telangana CM KCR’s flagship ‘Dharani’ portal goes live

 S A Ishaqui 

Hyderabad, Nov 3: KCR government’s flagship project “Dharani Portal”, intended to provide hassle and corruption-free land transactions online, has gone live across the state from Monday. 

Chief secretary Somesh Kumar handed over the first registered copies to an individual who had made a gift deed on his wife’s name at the tahsildar’s office in Shamshabad on Monday. On the occasion, Somesh Kumar said with this, registrations of agricultural properties through Dharani have successfully started all over the state. 

The CS had visited the tahsildar office at Shamshabad to oversee registrations of agricultural properties on Monday. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had launched the Dharani portal on October 29.  Somesh Kumar said 946 members had paid money towards registrations while 888 members have booked a slot today. He pointed out that slots can also be booked at Mee-Seva centres by paying Rs. 200. He said the state government will shortly take a decision on pending mutations. 

Explaining the salient features of Dharani, the chief secretary said, “It is the most easy, simple, transparent and corruption-free system. Registrations and mutations are not left to anyone’s discretion and done by Aadhaar authentication of buyer, seller, witnesses, all with biometric attendance. He explained that there are four types of registrations – sale deed, gift deed, succession and partition, which will be done under Dharani. Those with smart phones can also book their slots under Dharani. Somesh Kumar said, “If any problem arises in taking of the fingerprint, then registration can be done through iris of the eyes. Slot booking can also be carried out through payment at banks. 

He said based on reports coming from districts, registrations have started at all the places. Computer-generated registration documents are being given to citizens. Any technical issues will be resolved by teams within 2–3 days. 

He informed that the Chief Minister will announce a date for registration of non-agricultural lands. Special tribunals will be set up to deal with pending applications, he added.

Ends\Ishaqui


Friday, September 18, 2020

Telangana revises land regularization rates

 

S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Sept 18: The Telangana government on Thursday revised the land regularisation rates under the Telangana Regularisation of Unapproved and Illegal Layout Rules.

Chief secretary Somesh Kumar issued orders amending certain clauses in the rules under Government Order No. 135, dated September 16. Under the revised rules, the government provides seven slabs instead of the four proposed in GO No. 131, dated August 31, like in the old LRS scheme of 2015.

Under the new slabs, the government prescribes regularisation charges in accordance with the market value of the plot as of August 26, 2020 (sub-registrar value).

Regularisation charges for sub-registrar value of less than Rs 3,000 per square yard will be 20 per cent, between Rs 3,001 and Rs 5,000 30 per cent, between Rs 5,001 and Rs 10,000 40 per cent, between Rs 10,001 and Rs 20,000 50 per cent, between Rs 20,001 and Rs 30,000 60 per cent, between Rs 30,001 and Rs 50,000 80 per cent and above Rs 50,000 per square yard sub-registrar value will be 100 per cent.

The revised rules specified that if 10 per cent open space is not available in the unapproved layout, pro-rata open space charges at 14 per cent of the plot value prevailing as on the date of registration of the plot will be collected, instead of the prevailing rate as on August 26, 2020.

In the amended GO, the LRS regularisation charges include the NALA fee (for conversion of agricultural to non-agricultural land use) and no separate NALA fee is to be paid by LRS applicants.

After issuing GO No 135, Kumar said the rules had been revised in view of a number of requests stating that the regularisation charges were very high when compared to those in the LRS scheme of the year 2015.

This issue was also raised by MLAs in the Assembly on Wednesday and minister K.T. Rama Rao said the LRS regularisation charges will be revised to make them similar to the ones in the LRS scheme of 2015.

Ends\

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Catch the candidate before polls, say experts

Proposal to probe nomination papers gets backing.
Representational image
 Representational image
 By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, September 29: Legal experts are of the opinion that the only way to deter candidates from filing false affidavits during elections is for intelligence agencies to conduct inquiries into the antecedents of those who file nomination papers before the announcement of the list of contestants.
The Election Commission (EC) recently admitted before the Supreme Court that it found itself helpless with regard to the disqualification of candidates who made false declarations at the time of filing nominations. On August 1, 2012, the format of the affidavit appended to the Conduct of Election Rules of 1961 was amended by the Election Commission, making it mandatory for candidates to declare their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependents, criminal records, and educational qualifications.
The Representation of the People Act (RPA) stipulates that any false declaration or concealment of information in the affidavit constitutes an electoral offence punishable as per the provisions of Section 125(A) of the Act with imprisonment for up to six months, a fine, or both.
However, advocates say that the EC does not have jurisdiction over the falsification of poll affidavits. A person wishing to challenge an affidavit filed by an elected representative must move the court.
Before August 2012, it was under the purview of returning officers to file first information reports (FIRs) and follow up on them. However, the EC amended the regulations, freeing public servants from the task, due to the large number of false affidavits being submitted.
Mr Sarasani Satyam Reddy, a senior lawyer at the Hyderabad High Court, says that RPA Section 125(A) makes the filing of a false affidavit punishable with imprisonment or a fine, or both, but it does not prescribe disqualification of the representative. As per Section 8 of the RPA, an elected representative is only disqualified if he or she is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two or more years.
He says that the filing of a false affidavit also constitutes an offence under Section 181 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). As per the provisions of this Section, the issuance of a false statement by a public servant under oath is an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of up to three years, as well as a fine. This Section also does not prescribe disqualification.
Mr Satyam Reddy said candidates take advantage of the lax laws and poor law enforcement by filing false affidavits. He says that the EC has asked the Centre, on several occasions, to amend the RPA to increase the term of imprisonment to two years.
Justice P. Lakshman Reddy, a former judge of the AP High Court, says that a preliminary investigation of the claims in the affidavits, by either the police or intelligence agencies, may help deter candidates from malpractices.
He said that the EC should include a provision for the rejection of the candidature of those found to have submitted false affidavits.
He says that the act of making a statement under oath is supposed to be sacrosanct, but many candidates are not concerned with the sanctity of the affidavits. They make false declarations about pending criminal cases and their assets.
Mr Satyam Reddy said that the Constitution has empowered the EC to act in an appropriate manner when the laws contain insufficient provisions to deal with a particular situation regarding the conduct of an election.
Only 10 days needed to check election papers
Justice P. Lakshma Reddy, a former judge of the AP High Court, said that it is not impossible for the Election Commission (EC) to carry out pre-verification of the contents of affidavits filed by candidates if it sets aside a period of 10 days for the task.
He said that subsequent to the issuance of an election notification, the official machinery of the election is under the control of the EC. It can seek assistance from the departments of revenue, registration, transport and police to verify the correctness of the contents of affidavits.
The former judge said that the police department, including its intelligence and special branches, can be used to verify if candidates have any criminal cases pending against them. The revenue and registration departments can supply records of properties owned by candidates, and the transport department can supply records of the vehicles owned by them.
Justice Reddy said that the amendment of laws to either enhance punishment for the filing of false affidavits or to provide for the disqualification of candidates is not an easy task as it will be difficult for all political parties to arrive at a consensus. He said that pre-verification of affidavits by the EC is more likely to yield positive results.
A police officer from the Intelligence department, on condition of anonymity, said that the police can easily verify criminal antece-dents of candidates as most records are available with the department. The police can also make use of its intelligence network.
He said that if the EC introduces a pre-verification process, then the department will have to identify officers for the verification of criminal records.
He said that elections are countermanded in case of the death of a candidate of recognised political parties, but earlier they would even be countermanded in case of the death of an independent.
What the courts said
  • The Election Commission recently told the Supreme Court that it had written to successive governments at the Centre 43 times to make an amendment to increase the punishment for candidates found guilty of filing false affidavits.
  • The Madras High Court found that courts were empowered to disqualify the election of a candidate if an affidavit filed by him or her before the Returning Officer contained incorrect, incomplete, false or one-sided information.
  • The Madras High Court observed that “The requirement to furnish full information is not intended to be an empty ritual performed by a non-believer, but is intended to be sanctimonious. Therefore, a candidate is not entitled to just satisfy the letter of the law and make it sacrilegious.”

Friday, September 1, 2017

Poultry Biz: No more battery cages

Law banning battery cages to be notified.
 The battery cages are so small that the birds are unable to stand up or spread wings without touching the sides of the cage or other hens or circle without impediment. (Representational image)
  The battery cages are so small that the birds are unable to stand up or spread wings without touching the sides of the cage or other hens or circle without impediment. (Representational image)
By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,July31: Poultry farmers will have to soon end battery cage farming and go for cage free egg farming as the Law Commission of India has asked the Centre to notify the rules framed in 2012 to prohibit battery cage farming of egg laying hens.
The Law Commission which reviewed laws on the transport and rearing of poultry birds as per the request of the Ministry of Law and Justice informed the ministry that though rules were framed in 2012 for protection of egg laying hens and broiler chickens they have not been notified.
The panel felt that although the Animal Welfare Board of India had clarified in 2012 that confining hens in battery cages violates the provisions of Section 11(1)(e) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, most poultries are allowing battery cages.
The law panel pointed out that hens used for the production of eggs are reared in small wire cages called battery cages, a name given due to the arrangement of cages placed side by side. The battery cages are so small that the birds are unable to stand up or spread wings without touching the sides of the cage or other hens or circle without impediment.
The panel pointed out that the floor space available to each hen was approximately 623.7 cm2, that is almost the area of a sheet of A4 paper and a typical egg farm in the ur country contains thousands of cages with thousands of birds, stacked many tiers high.
The Law Commission noted that this method of rearing hens leads to sore feet, abrasions, broken bones and other injuries to the birds.
It also increases the risk of the birds contracting contagious diseases necessitating the administration of drugs.
The commission felt that the implications of caging broilers raise several concerns, and therefore broiler battery cages should be replaced with cage-free rearing to improve stocking density, feed, and hygiene.
The panel asked the Centre to include stringent punishments in 1960 Act as existing provisions prescribed only fines.
Legal circles expect the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Egg Laying Hens) Rules, 2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Broiler Chicken) Rules, 2017 would be notified soon by the Centre.
Once these rules come into force nobody can engage in poultry farming without registering with the animal husbandry department of the state.
The poultries will be allowed to operate only after certification by the animal husbandry department that the farm is cage-free.