HYDERABAD: Irregularities more serious than those uncovered in the recently detected stamp-duty scam have emerged during an ongoing examination of revenues generated through the Dharani integrated land records management system, now known as Bhu Bharati.
If official sources are to be believed, the land-related revenues collected through the Dharani portal during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government were not subjected to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), allegedly in contravention of constitutional requirements.
According to a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “the CAG was not provided access to transaction data generated through the Dharani platform.” The official indicated that an officer associated with the management of the portal did not facilitate the submission of records for audit.
As a result, financial transactions executed through Dharani reportedly remained outside the effective oversight of both audit authorities and Revenue department officials. A high-level inquiry initiated by the Revenue department has also found that nearly 256 ‘by-numbers’ were assigned to individual survey numbers, on numerous occasions, allegedly to evade stamp duty payments.
In certain instances, slot bookings were initially made citing the transfer of land as a gift to the government, but the properties were subsequently registered in the names of private individuals.
Such registrations were identified in several high-revenue districts, including Rangareddy, Medchal, Sangareddy and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, sources said.
Recently, it came to light that the intermediaries hoodwinked the government to the tune of crores of rupees while remitting to the government account.
TNIE broke the story that as low as Rs 1 stamp duty was generated towards the registration of agricultural lands. It appears that more serious irregularities would see the light of day by the end of the ongoing investigation by the committee appointed by the state government.