HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday took the State government to task for not complying with its directive to resume the registration of non-agricultural properties through the conventional method of using the Computer-aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD) software without eliciting Aadhaar and other details of citizens.
A division bench asked the government to give in writing the assurance it had made before the court that it will not seek Aadhaar and other details of citizens at the time of slot booking and for providing PTIN for the registration through CARD instead of the Dharani portal. It directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit by Thursday to this effect and posted the matter for further hearing to the same day.
"It's a clever ploy by the State in asking for Aadhaar and caste details from citizens, despite the State Advocate General assuring the court that such information will not be sought. It is surreptitious behaviour on the part of the State. The government cannot be permitted to seek such details in any manner even after giving an undertaking before the court. All the undertakings given should be in the form of an affidavit," the bench told Advocate General (AG) BS Prasad.
The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed this order in a batch of petitions that challenged the government’s decision of seeking Aadhaar, caste and family members’ details for the registration of non-agricultural properties on the portal.
On an earlier occasion, the AG, while seeking permission for the State to go ahead with the registration through CARD, had given an undertaking that no person would be asked to give his Aadhaar, caste or family members’ details. He had assured the court that the registrations would be taken up online under CARD, a platform which was used earlier.
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, the bench asked the AG to explain the latest position after the government constituted a cabinet sub-committee to reconsider the entire issue pertaining to registrations.
In his reply, the AG sought some time for filing a counter affidavit with regard to the terms of reference of the said sub-committee and on the interim applications filed by the petitioners seeking clarification on Aadhaar and other details.
Disputing with the AG’s submissions, senior advocate D Prakash Reddy, appearing for one of the petitioners, pointed out that the State has been seeking the details from citizens. There is a hue and cry because of this insistence on Aadhaar and other details. The court should obtain a written undertaking from the government to avoid such a situation, he said.
Government announces new land conversion rates
The State government on Wednesday announced fresh rates for conversion of agricultural lands for non-agricultural purposes. The new rates are two per cent of the basic value of the land in the areas covered under GHMC, and three per cent in areas outside GHMC. The government also announced that the the Telangana Agricultural Land Act, 2020 will commence on Dec 16