Although the Punjab government has been computerising revenue records for the last two years, people in Attock complained about problems in getting “fard”— a land ownership document that serves as proof that the property is in the title holder’s rightful possession.
Until recently, fard was issued by revenue officials (patwaris) for a set fee, but it is now issued by the computerisation section of the revenue department.
While computerisation of the revenue record is under way in the district, with almost 70 per cent of work complete, people said that neither the computerisation branch nor revenue officials were facilitating them in getting fard documents issued.
A number of people said that the computerisation process has created new problems. They said that when they approach the computerisation branch, they are told by officials that “the record is blocked due to incomplete data feeding and fard cannot be issued “.
In case of emergency, the people claimed they were asked to pay Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 through middlemen to get the document, which they said they could not afford to.
It was also learnt that officials in the computerisation section were facing “pressure” from revenue officials to leave or slow down computerisation of the remaining 30 per cent work as, after computerisation, their powers of issuing Fard, mutation, property deeds and others lucrative income sources for unscrupulous officials would be devolved to the computer branch.
The aggrieved people said that when they approach the local revenue officials for help in getting fard, they are told that “they are struggling to resolve the issue”.
A local said that he has been running between the of the computer branch and the patwarkhana to get fard for five marlas in Mousa Jassian for which he reached a sale agreement with a buyer a few days back.
He said that the computer branch officials told him the record has been blocked, while revenue officials said they couldn’t help as the record had been computerised. Locals claimed that touts are taking advantage of the situation and have began demanding Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 to process “emergency cases”.
Another local also claimed that when senior officials are told of the problem, they ask for written complaints as they are a legal requirement to pursue action against errant officials. He said that most people fear that after they file a written complaint against any officials, they may face repercussions from the accused officials, including tampering with the files.
Attock Assistant Commissioner Syed Nazart Ali said that they were making efforts to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Ali, who is also in charge of the computer branch for the Attock tehsil land revenue department, said that special meetings were being held with revenue officials to get them to cooperate in the computerisation work.
When told that some officials in the computer branch were demanding money for issuing fard, he said he had been made aware of this through verbal complaints, but no one has filed a written complaint, which he said was essential for further action against corrupt officials.
While explaining the reason for ‘blocked records’, he said that some people could face problems getting the documents as the computerisation process is still a work in progress. “The issue would be resolved after completion of the process,” he claimed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2014.
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