Patwari culture continues to undermine bureaucracy

Pakistan’s core province, Punjab, still faces delays in the digitalization process of land records

LAHORE:

Where the global shift towards bureaucratic digitalization has significantly prevented the probability of human error and malpractice from negatively influencing state data thereby improving departmental efficiency and transparency, in Pakistan’s core province, Punjab, which still faces delays in its digitalization process of land records, tasks that can be performed conveniently with a few taps on a screen are still carried out by discreditable Patwaris.

In 2001, the computerization of the Board of Revenue Punjab was initiated with the goal of streamlining ownership processes including the buying and selling of property, claims of inheritance and transfer of property so that the century’s old Patwari system, which involved the manual registration and collection of records by an accountant, could be abrogated. However, even after the passage of 23 years and the combined expenditure of billions of rupees on the pilot project, the digitalization process remains far from completion and the Patwari, who is the ‘king of revenue’ in Punjab, still holds the power to financially exploit the common people by demanding bribes for settling disputes over personal property, land acquisition and inheritance after the death of the proprietor.

Faisal Mehmood, a local spotted fidgeting outside the Patwari’s office, disclosed that he had been visiting the officer for documentation concerning his newly purchased property since the past one month. “Sometimes, I am told that the Patwari is not present, while on other occasions, the representative of the Patwari asks me to come after a week. I have also visited the digital land record center but their system is down,” shared Mehmood, who had also been told by the officers that he could expedite the process by paying a bribe anywhere between Rs7,000 to Rs10,000.

On the other hand, Fida Hussain, a Patwari in the Finance Department refuted such accusations of bribery. “Regardless of how much our salary is, we have to bear the regular expenses of all functioning officers out of our own pockets. Therefore, when people willingly offer us money to get their job done, we have no reason not to accept it,” maintained Hussain.

Contrary to Hussain’s validations, records obtained by the Express Tribune indicate that 35 per cent of all anti-corruption cases that are filed to the accountability watchdog are against Patwaris and revenue officers.

 

“More than 2,000 cases have been registered against revenue department officers and Patwaris during the past three years. Bail has been granted to some officers while others are still in jail,” unveiled an officer from the Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab, while speaking to the Express Tribune.

“Even as the province is steadily shifting towards digitalizing land records, completely eradicating the Patwari culture will take time,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, the Deputy Tehsildar of the Finance Department.

Expanding on the same, Shahid Hussain, an IT specialist believed that it was not possible to fully computerize data dating back to the British era. “In many cases, the government does not have access to these records since many have been burnt to ashes in fires breakouts at courts,” he added.

In this regard, an officer from the Punjab Land Records Authority revealed that currently more than 150 land centers in Punjab are undergoing digitalization. “90% of the records across 39 districts have already been digitalized. Traditional Patwari offices are being constructed in a contemporary manner. Copies can be obtained online and the time for registration has also been reduced to two months. The government is recruiting more than 3000 Patwaris with an educational background in modern technology education,” claimed the official, who further asserted that corruption cases had been reduced to half with the digital record system.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2024.