Purnima Das Sahu, the Jamshedpur (East) MLA, on Thursday accused the state government of misleading the assembly in connection with the closure of property registries in Tata Lease areas and demanded an immediate resumption of registrations.
Sahu raised the issue of property registries in the Tata Lease area in Jamshedpur for the past 8–9 years during the ongoing winter session of the state assembly on Wednesday.
“I asked if the government has stopped the registry of properties in the Tata Lease area, and if yes, then the reasons thereof. I also asked about the revenue loss to the state government due to the closure of the registry in Tata Lease areas. The government gave negative answers and also told the House that there was no proposal to restart the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas under its consideration at the moment. The government actually misled the House with these replies. The negative answer was an attempt to hide the reality and weaken issues of public interest,” Sahu told HT on Thursday.
She said it was unfortunate that the state government was trying to shy away from serious issues like revenue loss in crores, while citizens of Jamshedpur have been facing problems of insecurity and ownership documents of properties for the past 8–9 years.
“Everyone knows the registry in Tata Lease areas has been closed for almost a decade now. The government must tell the people under what circumstances the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas was stopped and under whose auspices. I have demanded that the state government place the full details of revenue earned when the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas was ongoing, and the revenue earned after it was stopped. People are facing financial and legal problems with the registry of thousands of lands and housing properties lying pending for years. The state government must remove whatever technical hindrances exist and restart the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas,” asserted Sahu.
As per official records, the Jamshedpur registry office earned an annual revenue of ₹77.27 crore against a registry of 4,628 deeds in the 2015–16 fiscal year. It earned ₹69.02 crore against a registry of 6,297 deeds in 2016–17 when the registry of properties was ongoing.
However, annual revenue earnings dropped to ₹38.92 crore against a registry of 6,620 deeds in 2017–18 after the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas stopped in 2017, the records stated.
“The registry of properties in Tata Lease areas was stopped in the 2016–17 fiscal for reasons best known to the authorities. We have been raising this issue, demanding the immediate restarting of the registry of properties in Tata Lease areas since 2018. This registry of properties in Tata Lease areas had been continuing for the past 70–80 years, and nobody knows why it was stopped suddenly in 2017,” Vijay Anand Moonka, outgoing president of the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), told HT on Thursday.
“There is no written order for this, and there is none to clarify either. Once, the state principal secretary told us that the DC could start it as and when he or she wished, as there is no written order from the state level. The state must have lost no less than ₹500 crore in revenue during the past 8–9 years, and people are facing financial and legal problems due to insecurity about properties and the absence of ownership documents.”
