Jugglery of Revenue Records

THE LIGHT OF ANDAMANS | VOL 35 | ISSUE 16 | 14 OCT 2011

Jugglery of Revenue Records

By Basudev Dass

After a sincere and honest career in Police Department, Mr. S Prasad, a junior ranked police personnel (now late) on his retirement approached the then Lt Governor for a piece of land for construction of a house. After observation of a spate of formalities he was allotted a piece of 200 sq.m  of land somewhere in Protherapore village. The retired person when visited the spot with the land-license bearing the survey number found the land too sloppy to be of any use as he could have hardly extract 60-70 sq. mtrs. land out of it, else paying a hefty amount as labour cost. He started approaching the revenue authorities for an alternative land and in the course literary exhausted the sole of his old shoes. The honest but stubborn person did not lose hope and faith on the system and finally found an official who promised to help him. Mr. Prasad met the official with his copy of the license he was given against his allotted land of Protherapore.

The official spread the worn and torn sheet of map of the area and started finding the survey number Mr. Prasad's license was carrying. He was successful in his attempt and located the survey number on the map. With a piece of broken blade he scratched the number to make it indecipherable.  He then did the same with another survey number on the map and with a dark lead pencil on the map   he wrote the same survey number the license carried.  The survey number in the license was not changed but now, Mr. Prasad with the same survey number on his license was owner of a genuine piece of house site.

The affair was not put to a halt there. The poor man applied to the District Administration for construction assistance under the Low Income Housing Scheme of Government of India from the District Administration which was managing the fund. An amount was sanctioned and the first installment was also handed over to Mr. Prasad against the License and survey number. The poor person managed some labourers and prepared the land for further construction activity when he was suddenly called by a senior official of the revenue department alongwith the license. Mr. Prasad when reached to the official, he was asked to show the original to which he complied. The official took the original license in pretext of examination of financial assistance extended to him, kept the same in his office drawer directing Mr. Prasad to collect the same after a week.  Without a slightest hesitation, poor Mr. Prasad handed over the license to the official but never to get back the same. Nth number of time he approached the said official and others with no result. And ultimately, he died without owning a roof of his own over his head.