The controversy over the alleged illegal land transactions in the capital city area has taken a new turn with legal experts claiming to have found glaring omissions in the guidelines issued for implementation of the land pooling scheme (LPS).
The experts say the state government itself had allowed the irregularities to continue in the highly volatile realty market in the capital city area by tweaking the Land Act rules.
According to sources, the state government has conveniently ignored the clause that helps it impose a ban on land transactions once the notification has been issued for pooling of land in the capital city area.
Allowing registrations in the area where the government intends to take over land for capital city construction is itself a big flaw as it paved the way for all kinds of illegal registrations.
More than 15,000 acres changed hands in the capital city area spread over 29 villages and another 5,000 acres in the neighbouring villages of the capital city area since June, 2014 after the TDP government came to power.
Chandrababu Naidu took the reins of the state on June, 8, 2014 but the location of the capital city was announced only on December, 8, 2014.
Speculation is rife that large-scale land purchases took place in the border villages of capital city area.
It is learnt that several influential TDP leaders were involved in purchase of lands in the surroundings of Mangalagiri towns, Amaravati, Krosur, Sattenapalle and Tadikonda.
“Leave alone purchases outside the capital city area, the officials have allowed sale transactions even in the core capital city area which is against the law,“ observed noted advocate and rights activist Mallela Seshagiri Rao.
As per the Land Acquisition Act, the government should en force a ban on all kinds of land transactions including sale and lease once the notification is issued for takeover of lands in a village under the jurisdiction of a particular sub-registrar's office.
In some cases, the ban will be extended to the entire village although the notification is issued for acquisition of a specific extent of land.
The transaction is prohibited to prevent speculation in the local land values.
“As the compensation would be awarded based on the average registration rate in a particularly area, continuing transactions at jacked up prices would deal a big blow to the exchequer. Hence, prohibiting sales is the only weapon to keep the prices low,“ said retired revenue divisional officer N Nagireddy.
Besides, prohibition on sale of land would also help keep the land records clean to decide the title deed, he explained.
It would become very difficult to determine the actual ownership if the sale is allowed to continue even after the notification is issued, said a senior advocate Jammula Muralidhar.
However, the government allowed a free run for realtors in the capital city area even after declaring its intention to take over the entire land of 35,000 acres spread over 29 villages.
Source: TimesOfIndia
