Computerised land record centre stinks with corruption

A large number of applicants complain about corruption and bureaucratic hurdles

LAHORE: The computerisation of land record system has miserably failed to bring transparency and produce the desired results to the system.

The government of Punjab had established an autonomous body in January 2017, the Punjab Land Record Authority, to facilitate the citizens in agriculture land revenue matters. One of the main purposes of the authority was to ensure transparency and get rid of monetary corruption which the citizens had to face in the manual system.

A large number of applicants have complained of corruption and bureaucratic hurdles at the Punjab Land Record Centre, Chakwal.

A complainant, Zubair Shah*, told The Express Tribune said the centre was being run by ‘touts’. Every applicant had to pay at least Rs1000 to get token issued to them. If an applicant did not pay the amount, his issue was not entertained, he alleged.

He said a few days earlier, he visited the centre for mutation of his land and got issued a token. A man came to him and asked for Rs1,000 to get his job done. He refused on which he told him that he “will regret his act as his job will not be done”.

Shah said he ignored his talk and started waiting for his turn. He kept on waiting for the whole day. After a long wait, when he went to the person concerned, he admonished, humiliated him and asked him to visit the centre the next day. The same episode was repeated with him the next day as well. He brought the issue to the notice of the higher authorities but to no avail. Finally, he had to pay the amount as a ‘token’ to get his job done. Many other citizens also complained of the same issue.

Another victim said the centre had to deal with a large area. A large number of victims had to visit it and there was a crowd of people all the time. Some vested interests use the situation to their benefit.

“They have connections with all the authorities concerned of the centre,” he added.

In charge of the centre Kazim Shah Bukhari while talking to The Express Tribune termed all these allegations baseless and frivolous. He said he dealt the issue of ‘token’ seriously and had posted banners at many places in the centre requesting people to register their complaints in this regard.

“If someone has an audio or video evidence of such malpractice, he should bring it to me. I will get the accused arrested by police and grant an award to the person,” he challenged. He further said he could provide the list of all the mutations (the change of title ownership from one person to another when the property is sold or transferred under the Transfer of Property Act 1882) and token in last year to verify.

He said he took charge a year ago and this centre was 92nd in the ranking of 143 centres. Now it was now 28th.

Kazim further said Chakwal was the largest tehsil of Pindi division and they had a shortage of staff at the centre. Despite, all these short-comings they were working hard to facilitate the masses.

Name of the complainant changed to protect the identity