Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
Chapter IX
Regularisation of the Unauthorised Occupation of Government
land
9.1 Regularisation of the Unauthorised Occupation of
Government land for agricultural purposes
The Government vide insertion of Section 94A66 in 1991 to the KLR Act,
1964, introduced a scheme for regularisation of unauthorised occupation of
Government lands prior to 14 April 1990 inviting applications from people in
unauthorised occupation. Section 94B inserted in 1998 provided an
opportunity for those who had not applied under Section 94A to apply for such
regularisation. The last date for applications under Sections 94 A and 94B was
5 August 1991 and 15 July 1999 respectively. Rules 108-B to 108-M of the
KLR Rules prescribe the procedures and eligibility for regularisation of such
unauthorised occupation for agricultural purposes. The process flow for the
regularisation is as given below:
Regularisation of unauthorised occupation
Application for regularisation of unauthorised
Field verification of Village Accountant/Revenue
Inspector
Recommendation of the Tahsildar to DC
Submission of the case to the Constituency-wise
Committee for Regularisation
Approval by Committee
Issue of Saguvali Chit (Certificate authorising the individual
to cultivate the land)/Grant Certificate by Tahsildar
Creation of new Record of Rights by assigning a new
survey number to the portion granted
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Salient features of 94A and B - The conditions for grant of land, under the Act and Rules,
inter alia stipulates that:
i) As per Rule 108-F (iv) the applicant shall be in occupation of land prior to
13.4.1990 in general case and 13.4.1989 in case of SC/ST;
ii) The land granted together with the land already held by the grantee shall not exceed
two hectares of land. (provision u/s. 94A(4)); and
iii) No B Kharab land such as Devarakadu (Forest for God), Urduve, Gunduthopu,
tank bed, Phut Kharab, Halla Kharab, burial ground, etc., assigned for special
purpose, shall be regularised (Rule 108-I).
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Report No.5 of the year 2018
9.1.1 Status of disposal of applications
Whether disposal of applications went off as planned?
The intention of the Legislature was to consider and dispose the applications
within one year from the date of the Amendment Act of 1997, with effect
from 27 April 2000. However, the pendency of the disposal of the
applications necessitated several amendments to the Act with respect to the
time frame for disposing off the applications. At the end of March 2017,
there were 47,348 applications pending in the test-checked Districts, which
covered an area of 1,64,874-24 A-G.
The status of applications disposed under Section 94A and Section 94B as of
March 2017 in the test-checked Districts is as shown Table 9.1 below:
Table 9.1
Disposal of cases under Section 94 A and 94 B as of March 2017
Sl. Section No. of No. of No. of No. of
No. applications applications applications applications
received/ regularised/ rejected/ pending/Extent
Extent of Extent of land Extent of land of land
land (in A-G) (in A-G) (in A-G) (in A-G)
157792 67843 88491 1458
1. 94A
334769-25 105739 214370-01 14660-24
164185 25619 92676 45890
2. 94B
447967-05 49487-27 248266-18 150213
321977 93462 181167 47348
Total
782736-30 155226-27 462636-19 164873-24
The applicants whose applications were pending for disposal continued to be
in possession of the Government lands for over 18 years, awaiting a decision.
9.1.2 Discrepancies in regularisation of unauthorised occupation of
Government land under Sections 94 A and B
Sections 94 A and B of the KLR Act, read with Rule 108-B to 108-M of KLR
Rules, provide for regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government
land for cultivation purpose based on the conditions for grant of land, under
the said Act and Rules.
Whether regularisation of agricultural land was as per the stipulated
conditions/provisions?
Audit reviewed 1,022 files in 1167Tahsildars’ Offices pertaining to
regularisation of land under Sections 94 A and B during 2011-12 to 2016-17.
Non-compliances like grant of excess land, grant of Gomala land (where
shortage was reported), grant to ineligible beneficiaries, grant of land
without applications, etc. were noticed. As a result, 1,055-19 A-G of land
was alienated under the scheme for regularisation contrary to the eligibility
conditions/provisions of the scheme/Act/Rules.
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Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Chinthamani, Doddaballapura, Gubbi, Hosakote,
Mudigere, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Sedam and Sira.
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Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
Details in this regard are given below:
172-11 A-G of Revenue Inspector/Tahsildar of the respective Villages
land valuing reported shortage of Gomala land and recommended
` 22.68 crore in for rejection of applications. But the Committee for
110 cases Regularisation headed by the jurisdictional elected
between 2012-17. representative granted land overlooking the
recommendation.
89-17A-G of land Applications were for grant of 159-01 A-G of land
valuing ` 2.89 against which, the Committee granted 248-18 A-G,
crore in 77 cases resulting in excess grant of 89-17 A-G over that
between 2012-17.. applied for.
176-02 A-G of As per Rule 108 F, no person shall be eligible for grant
land valuing ` 6 of land unless he has attained the age of eighteen years
crore in 69 cases and has been in unauthorised occupation of land for at
between 2012-17.
least a continuous period of not less than 368 years prior
to 14 April 1990.
Audit analysis of the date of birth/age on the
applications revealed that age of the applicants would
be between 8 and17 years when they were purportedly
cultivating the land. Such unrealistic applications
should have been rendered invalid, but were accepted
and land granted.
585-14 A-G of Land was granted though applications were reported to
land in 240 cases be not available.
in six Taluks.
32-15 A-G of land Land was granted in a different Village/survey number
in 14 cases. than the ones applied for.
9.1.3 Non-inclusion of names of beneficiaries in the RTC
On regularising the land under Sections 94 A and B by issuing Saguvali Chit
(Grant Certificate), the Department is required to reduce the extent of land so
regularised from the original survey number (which is Government land) and
allot a new survey number exhibiting the extent of land, name of the grantee
and a remark incorporating the condition of grant for non-alienation for 15
years/25 years, etc.
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One year in case of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.
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Report No.5 of the year 2018
Whether the modifications required in RTC were carried out after
regularisation?
In 201 out of 503 test-checked cases of regularisation involving 327-06 A-G
of land, modifications were not carried out in RTC. Individual beneficiaries’
names, along with the extent of land granted, was neither included in the
RTC relating to the Government land nor allotted a new survey number.
Consequently, the overall extent of Government land in that particular
survey number becomes overstated and title of the land does not get created
in the name of the grantee. This has a risk of re-grant of the same land to
others and litigations in the future.
9.1.4 Benefit impact assessment and alienation of land regularised for
agricultural purposes
In the test-checked Districts, the Government regularised and granted
1,55,226-27A-G of Government land as of March/June 2017. However, the
Government did not envisage monitoring the usage of the land granted for
agricultural purposes. Data such as crop grown by the grantees, annual income
earned from the land granted, etc. were not collected. Thus, the benefits
accrued to poor landless cultivators remained unassessed. It would be prudent
for the Government to conduct a benefit impact assessment of such
regularisation policy.
Whether land regularised for cultivation could be alienated?
As per the KLR Rules governing the conditions of regularisation under
Sections 94 A and 94 B of KLR Act, land shall not be alienated or used for
non-agricultural purpose for a period of 25 years (15 years up to 24.8.2011)
from the date of issue of Saguvali Chit/Grant Certificate. Besides, the
grantee shall plant (and replant in case of damage) and maintain 10 trees, at
his cost per hectare of land granted, within six months of such grant order.
In 23 cases, the Government accorded permission (between June 2006 and
May 2016) under Rule 9 of the KLG Rules for sale of 43-38 A-G of land,
regularised under Sections 94A and B of the KLR Act (between August
1994 and July 2005), after 10 to 12 years of regularisation. Rule 9 of the
KLG Rules provides for alienation of land within the stipulated period in
cases of lands granted for agricultural purposes under the KLG Rules.
Hence, permission to alienate regularised land under Rule 9 of the KLG
Rules was irregular and contrary to the scheme for regularisation.
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Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
9.2 Regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government
land for dwelling purpose under Sections 94 C and 94 CC of
the Karnataka Land Revenue Act
The Government introduced in the KLR Act Section 94 C69 with effect from
11 July 2013 and Section 94 CC70 with effect from 12 January 2015, which
provided for regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government lands
for dwelling purposes in rural and urban areas respectively.
Audit scrutiny of the provisions of the Section 94 C and 94 CC revealed the
following deficiencies in the implementation of the conditions envisaged
under the sections:
Conditions envisaged Deficiency in implementation
Applicant or his family Applications were processed based on a self-
should not own a house or certificate of the applicant and there was no
site other than the one mechanism to verify the correctness. As the
sought to be regularised. Government implements many housing
schemes like Ashraya, distribution of sites to
poor, etc. and allot houses/sites to identified
beneficiaries, the risk of overlapping of such
beneficiaries could not be ruled out.
House should have been Proof of the house having been constructed on
constructed before Government land before 1 January 2012 was
1 January 2012. not documented in any of the cases.
Section 94 C permitted The Tahsildars did not initiate action to
regularisation of land up recover the Government land under
to 4,000 sq.ft. in rural encroachment in excess of 600 sq.ft.
areas, Section 94 CC
permitted regularisation of
land up to 600 sq.ft. in
urban areas.
Recommendation 9 – The Department may consider instituting a
mechanism to verify and document fulfilment of eligibility conditions
and also devise an Action Plan to resume Government land
encroachment in excess of 600 sq.ft. in urban areas and 4000 sq.ft. in
rural areas.
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Section 94 C of the KLR Act, 1964, which was substituted by the Act No. 51 of 2013,
w.e.f 11 July 2013 read with Rules 108-O to 108-T of KLR Rules, 1969, provides for
regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government land for dwelling purpose in
rural areas.
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Section 94 CC of the KLR Act, 1964, which was inserted by the Act No. 7 of 2015, w.e.f
12.1.2015 read with Rules 108-U to 108-Z of KLR Rules, 1969, provides for
regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government land for dwelling purpose in
urban areas.
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Report No.5 of the year 2018
The Government accepted the audit recommendation and stated that the field
offices had to evict encroachments in excess of 600sq.ft. and 4000 sq.ft. in
urban and rural areas respectively.
9.2.1 Discrepancies in Regularisation under Sections 94 C and 94 CC
Whether regularisation for dwelling purposes was as per the stipulated
conditions/provisions?
Reviewed all 397 cases under Section 94 C and 140 files out of 529 files of
land grants under Section 94 CC approved by the Tahsildars (between
October 2014 and March 2017) for issue of provisional grant order/Demand
Notice.
Discrepancies like short collection of cost, non-collection of conversion/
compounding fine and grant of excess built-up area were noticed in 332
cases under Section 94C.
There were 14 applications under Section 94CC where built up area was in
excess of 600 sq.ft. These cases were not evicted.
Details in this respect are given below:
Short collection of cost of land Guidance value for agricultural land was
of ` 24.38 lakh in 22071 cases. collected in 220 cases instead of Site rate.
(Section 94C). Further, in 20 cases, though the Sites
were having roads on two sides,
additional 10 per cent of the GV was not
levied and collected
Non-collection of conversion Though land was utilised for residential
fine/compounding fee of ` 3.86 purpose, conversion fine/compounding
lakh in 5672 cases. fee applicable was not collected.
(Section 94C).
Excess grant of 8872 sq.ft.of As against 23,640 sq.ft. of actual built up
land, costing ` 10.56 lakh in area as applied for by the beneficiary, the
3173 cases. Department granted 32,512 sq.ft.
resulting in excess grant of 8872 sq.ft.
(Section 94C).
Grant of 5,277 sq.ft. of built-up In these cases, applications were not on
area in five74 cases. record.
(Section 94C).
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Devanahalli (164 cases) and Dodaballapura (56 cases) Taluks between 2014 and 2016.
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Dodaballapura Taluk.
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Dodaballapura Taluk.
74
Dodaballapura Taluk.
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Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
Excess built-up area of In all these cases, applications submitted
6762.25 sq.ft. in 1475 cases. for regularisation were more than the
(Section 94 CC). permissible limit of 600 sq.ft. These cases
were not evicted.
9.3 Non-repealing of the Karnataka Land Revenue
(Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of Land) Rules,
1970
The Karnataka Land Revenue (Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Lands) (RUOL) Rules, 1970, deals with grant of land both for agricultural and
dwelling purposes. The person in unauthorised occupation of Government
land should apply in Form I to the DC for grant of the land. No cut-off date for
submission of applications was prescribed under these Rules.
What were the implications of Karnataka Land Revenue (RUOL) Rules,
1970 after insertion of Sections 94A and 94B of KLR Act and Rules?
After introduction of Sections 94A and 94B, cases of lands under
unauthorised occupation beyond the city limits for cultivation purpose are
being regularised under these Sections only. The last date for receipt of
applications under the KLR Act was 15 July 1998.
However, ‘Karnataka Land Revenue (RUOL) Rules, 1970’ was not repealed
on introduction of Sections 94A and 94B under the KLR Act. This resulted
in an open opportunity for people under unauthorised occupation of
Government lands even after 1998 to apply for grant of such lands.
Recommendation 10 – The Government may consider the necessity of
the Karnataka (RUOL) Rules in the present scenario of encroachments
for agricultural purposes, and propose for its repeal in view of later
laws, so as to avoid any confusion regarding regularisation of land
under unauthorised occupation.
During the Exit Conference (September 2017), the Government informed that
the repeal status of the said Rules was not readily available and would be
informed to Audit early. No reply was received in this regard (October 2017).
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Bangalore (East) Taluk.
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Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
Conclusion
Land is a precious resource, which should be managed in a scientific manner
striking a balance between the sustenance of environment and the
developmental activities. It requires definite policies for the management and
disposal of land. This Performance Audit revealed the following deficiencies
apropos the Audit Objectives:
Audit Objective 1: Whether inventory of Government land available for
grant/lease is available and the transfer of Government land for
private/public purpose by way of lease/grant is carried out through a
clear, transparent and judicious process.
Under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, while the Karnataka Land Grant
Rules 1969 govern the grant/lease of Government lands, the Karnataka Land
Revenue Rules, 1966 govern the general administration of the Government
land and impose restrictions on disposal of certain types of Government land
meant for public purpose. It was observed that the Karnataka Government
(Transaction of Business) Rules provided for all land grant/lease proposals not
in accordance with the KLR Act and allied Rules to be submitted to the
Cabinet for decision. The grant of lands under the Karnataka Government
(Transaction of Business) Rules in exercise of Rule 27 of the KLG Rules or
otherwise is in direct contravention of the KLR Rules, which specifically
prohibited the grant of such lands and thus defeated the intention of the
Legislature in protecting certain kinds of public lands.
There was no strategic planning in identification and disposal of Government
land. Databases relating to the lands available for disposal and also the lands
already disposed as grants/leases were not maintained. Identification of the
land by the beneficiaries themselves, coupled with incomplete verification of
the information regarding the land or the beneficiary, resulted in grant/lease of
deemed forest/forest/forest buffer zone, land already granted to other parties,
etc.
Applications for grant/lease were not systematically compiled and hence the
processing of the applications was not verifiable. A few grants were made
even without application by the beneficiaries. These depicted lack of fairness
and transparency in the transfer of Government lands. No mechanism existed
in the Department for evaluation of the extent of land required for the
grantees/lessees which resulted in grant of excess/surplus land.
Lands reserved for public purposes, which were specifically prohibited from
being granted/leased by the KLR Rules, were granted under Rule 27 of the
KLG Rules and using the provisions of Karnataka Government (ToB) Rules.
Hence, the process of inventory management was weak and consequently, the
transfer of land suffered from non-transparent and injudicious processes.
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Report No.5 of the year 2018
Audit Objective 2: Whether system of pricing for transfer of land is
adequate.
The Government granted more concessions to Institutions than those
prescribed in the KLG Rules without recording specific reasons. There was no
uniformity in the grant of concessions.
Incorrect adoption of Guidance/Market Value of lands resulted in incorrect
computation/short-levy of the value of land amounting ` 17.83 crore. Non-
adoption of the principles under the Central Valuation Committee guidelines
led to undervaluation of lands transferred. Besides, an ambiguity in the Rules
related to lease rents prevented field Offices from raising demands correctly
and computing arrears.
Audit Objective 3: Whether effective monitoring exists to ensure the
usage of the land for the intended purposes.
Monitoring of the land grants/leases was not satisfactory and consequently
resulted in non-collection of lease rent, non-retrieval of land after expiry of
lease period and more importantly, locking up of Government lands with the
grantees/lessees without being used for the purpose for which it was granted.
Audit Objective 4: Whether system for timely detection and eviction of
encroached Government land and process of regularisation of
unauthorised occupation of Government land was effective.
As per statistics maintained by the Government, encroachments were static
and no additions were recorded (except in Bengaluru Urban District) after
August 2013, which was found to be not in consonance with the public
complaints made to the KPLC/DCs/Tahsildars. The Government did not
formulate an Action Plan to resume land in respect of rejected applications
under the scheme of regularisation of unauthorised occupation of Government
lands.
Significant number of public complaints on encroachment of Government land
pending over five years indicated lack of due diligence in the protection of
Government lands. Further, lack of proper security to the evicted lands, and
non-transfer of the cases of encroachment to the Specially Designated Court,
etc., slackened the process of evictions.
Action of the Department in regularising unauthorised occupation of land
contrary to provisions of KLR Act/Rules resulted in irregular grant of
Government land. No mechanism was established to cross-verify the
correctness of claims made by the applicants for regularisation of land for
dwelling purposes.
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Grant, Lease, Eviction of Encroachment and Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation of
Government lands
Hence, it is necessary that while the process of regularisation of unauthorised
occupation of Government lands needs to be swiftly completed ensuring
fulfilment of all eligibility criteria, the system for identification and eviction of
encroachment needs to be strengthened.
(Bijit Kumar Mukherjee)
Bengaluru Accountant General
The (Economic and Revenue Sector Audit)
Karnataka
Countersigned
New Delhi (Rajiv Mehrishi)
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India
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