Revenue minister admits to illegal registration at sub-registrar offices

Admitting on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that agricultural land was being registered illegally in the offices of the sub-registrar, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Monday said, “There’s no question of denying it. I’m not proud of saying this, but illegality is committed by using the law.” 

The minister was responding to a calling-attention motion tabled by Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, who pointed to rampant illegal
transactions being carried out with impunity at sub-registrar offices in his constituency. 

“There’s a category called ‘Others’ during registration. This includes gramtana and Ashraya sites. But sites on agricultural land are being registered using this ‘Others’ category. To stop this, we need to integrate khatas issued by gram panchayats or municipalities directly with our system,” Gowda said. 

The minister reminded the House that the law aimed at fighting the scourge of bogus khatas had been amended earlier in the year.

“Presidential assent is awaited for the Bill. Also, elections came and we couldn’t implement this for three months. We
remain committed to what we’ve set out to do,” Gowda said.

“We need to remove the ‘Others’ category and integrate systems. Officials say this would cause some loss in revenue, but that’s okay,” he added. 

Expressing concern over the mushrooming of illegal layouts on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Vishwanath had said, “Registration is happening in a big way. In Yelahanka, Hesaraghatta and Madanayakanahalli, 100-110 revenue layouts are being registered every day. For one registration, the bribe is Rs 35,000-45,000. Where does this money go? They say it has to be sent to the top. I’m told that every month, Rs 8 crore must be collected by the sub-registrar,” he claimed.