THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To plug the issues of grey market and loss to the exchequer in land-related business, the Revenue Department will soon embark on the mission of revising the fair value of land in the state. The said activity, scheduled to begin by January, will be overseen by a three-member monitoring committee comprising Land Revenue Commissioner (LRC), Joint Commissioner and Inspector General of Registration.
“The initial decision was to kick-start the project in November, but the flood caused it to be postponed and the new time frame for commencing it has been set for January 2019,” said Revenue Secretary P H Kurian.
He said the land acquisition process is at present decided by market value and legislation such as Kerala Land Acquisition Act and Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. A senior revenue officer said the decision to revise the fair value of land was taken after finding the value fixation done earlier was unscientific. The suggestions of a high-level meeting called by the LRC and a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also influenced the said decision.
“The stark reality is when it comes to land business, a grey market exists, which costs the exchequer. The fair value revision could elicit the desired results only if the government decides to rationalise the existing stamp duty,” said the officer.
According to a senior revenue officer, the revision of fair value of land might help the landowners and buyers in equal measure. At the same time, it is learnt that the aforementioned process will be carried out on the basis of a directive approved by the state government. The directive which mentions the anomalies with the existing fair price of land and things to be taken care of while fixing the market price and fair price also lists the responsibilities of district collectors, RDOs, tahsildars, village officers and others while revising the fair value of land.
“There is a need to adopt a uniform method while fixing the fair value of land in the state. But for the same, the land will have to be categorised. For the same, the authorities concerned could use ISRO’s geoportal Bhuvan or GoogleMaps. For carrying out the activities in a foolproof manner, field workers, as well as data entry operators, will have to be thoroughly trained,” reads an excerpt from the directive.
Earlier the CAG in its report had stated that a comprehensive fixation of the fair value of land is elusive in the state.
The report while highlighting the existence of varying fair price for land that comes under the same categorisation also underscores the impact on fixation of the fair value of land due to the absence of a proper definition for market price.
Commenting on the development, former revenue minister Adoor Prakash said though revising the fair value of land is not going to help the land acquisition process, it might help address the longstanding issues in the registration sector.
Pros & cons
Ex-revenue minister Adoor Prakash said though fair value revision is not going to help land acquisition, it might help address the issues in the registration sector.
Being fair