Fraudsters grab govt, farmers’ lands; obtain Rythu Bharosa!
Misuse of ‘sadabainamas’ and ‘gift deeds’ amid legal flux
Hyderabad: Although genuine farmers who had executed sadabinamas have been running around Tahsildar offices for years to regularise their land and get pattadar passbooks; some fraudsters allegedly grabbed government lands and gullible farmers’ lands easily during the erstwhile regime using sadabinamas with the support of corrupt revenue officials.
For the unversed, sadabainama refers to unregistered, white-paper agricultural land transactions. According to sources, these individuals created sadabinamas for various categories of prohibited government lands, including endowments dept and temple lands, lavani patta lands, poramboke lands, Waqf properties, banjar lands, ceiling surplus lands and forest lands.
Despite these lands being classified as “prohibited properties”, the alleged encroachers are reportedly enjoying ownership rights of lakhs of acres of such land and are receiving financial assistance under Rythu Bharosa (formerly Rythu Bandhu). In some instances, these lands have even been sold to unsuspecting buyers who now face legal complications.
In another concerning trend, some individuals allegedly transferred government lands - including canal lands and reservoir areas - to their heirs using registered ‘gift deeds’, again with the support of corrupt revenue officials. Such heirs too avail benefits under Rythu Bharosa and, according to complaints, are creating disputes with neighbouring genuine farmers.
Revenue officials are required to identify and block such government lands in the revenue records. However, in many places, this process has reportedly not been carried out effectively. As a result, canal and reservoir lands remain in the possession of alleged encroachers (including those who have taken compensation from the government).
Taking advantage of the legal flux with regard to sadabainamas (see box), certain individuals allegedly managed to secure pattas in the names of their heirs.
Some genuine farmers have approached the revenue authorities requesting the removal of government-acquired land from their records, but many have not done so.
