A new storm is brewing in Telangana. The state government’s ambitious New Revenue Act, passed in 2020, faces an acid test. The Act abolished the decades-old Village Revenue Officers (VROs) system. The state government recently issued a government order that all the VROs, who did not have specific responsibilities after the Act abolished their jobs, would now be accommodated in other departments in the rank of junior assistants. There are currently 5,088 VROs, without work attached to Tahasildar offices against the sanctioned strength of 7,039 posts.
After the late NTR took over as chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1983, he scrapped the then-existing Patel Patwari system in 1985 in the wake of several allegations. In its place came the Village Revenue Assistants’ mechanism. In 1990, the then government created Village Revenue Officers for land administration.
In 2020, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao brought in the New Revenue Act to make land administration hassle-free. The intention is honourable as the VRO system was breeding corruption. The government also introduced several other reforms, including digitising land maps and launching Dharani, a portal to end land disputes and land grabbing.
The revenue employees’ unions now threaten to paralyse the land administration if the government does not withdraw it within a fortnight. They want the VROs to be accommodated in the revenue department itself by creating five posts of revenue inspectors for each Mandal, in the rank of junior assistants. There is no denying the fact that the Act aims to introduce reforms to end the agonising ordeal of people in the villages in resolving land disputes.
As the intention is noble, the revenue staff should also cooperate. The employees cannot take the government over a barrel, whatever their grouse. The government may consult them before implementing the GO, perhaps, giving them some say. But, it must stand firm. The issue at stake is not only much-needed reform but also optimum utilisation of manpower. As per law, the government has every right and reason to stay the course.