THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan has directed village offices to collect basic tax for all kinds of land, except those excluded under the second provision of Kerala Land Tax Act and the land falling under the Kerala Land Conservancy Act.In an order on Saturday, the minister asked village offices not to make a person visit the office for a particular need more than twice.
Temporary payment of tax can be allowed in case of non-surveyed land. If there is no legal issue, tax should be collected and receipt be given on the same day. If the tax could not be collected on the day for any particular reason it should be done on the very next day.
If there is any issue in tax collection, it should be given in writing to the land holder. In such cases, the land holder should be told he can lodge a complaint with the tehsildar. The village officer should report the matter to the tehsildar and the latter should take further steps and update the complainant.
Deputy tehsildars in charge of village offices should inspect offices under their purview once every month. They should submit a report on each village’s land tax collection to the tahsildar. The tehsildar should submit a compiled report to the District Collector.
Complaint boxes should be kept at all taluk offices where the public can deposit complaints on village offices. The box should be opened every 15 days and further action on a complaint should be taken in consultation with the village officer.
Deputy collectors and RDOs should conduct surprise inspections at village offices. Complaints and issues regarding land tax collection should be reviewed by the deputy collector (LR) every month and a report should be submitted to the District Collector. The Collector should forward the report to the Land Revenue Commissioner before10th of each month.