Land owners to get opportunity before rejection mutation with explanation

Staff Reporter :
The Ministry of Land has instructed the officials concerned to give an opportunity before rejection of mutation of lands and they must explain the reasons for rejection clearly.
Though the Ministry of Land has been regularly urging its field-level officials to provide responsible services to citizen, sometimes it was not implemented properly.
According to the officials of Land Ministry, they have instructed the field-level officials for proper implementation of its instructions of providing opportunity the land owners before the final rejection of land mutation with mentioning the specific reasons for the rejection of the mutation if applicable.
Earlier on July 17, 2022, the Ministry issued a circular titled
‘Instructions on disposal of mutation applications in the e-mutation system’ for the convenience of land service recipients.
As per circular, the applicants must be given an opportunity to provide information without rejecting the application right away if there is any deficiency of information that is not stored in the digital land service system or land office. If there is a shortage of any document during the 1st order in the mutation case, the applicant must be requested to submit the missing document by seven working days or a reasonable time by specifically mentioning it. Land Ministry had directed that the second order could be rejected only in case of failure of submission of the information within that time, the circular stated.
According to Land Ministry sources, in the recent regular review of the Ministry shows that the circular was not implemented in many cases that according to the instructions of the above circular as the applicant was not requested to give seven working days or reasonable time to submit the missing information/ documents. Moreover, in most cases, the reasons for which the application has been rejected have not been specifically mentioned or vaguely mentioned in the order.
In the review, it was found that very often the mutation application was rejected because of the lack of necessary information, documents and lack of succession certificate without giving a copy/photocopy/stamp seal of Khaitan. They just given vague scan copy and failure to provide land development tax receipt (Dakhila)/ updated Dakhila, non-submission of the original document, non-payment of land development tax, non-payment of DCR fee, non-attachment of partition deed, etc. Here, according to the above circular, the applicant ought to be allowed to provide the information within a reasonable time.
Also, in some cases, the mutation has been rejected citing failure to produce deed-wise evidence in favour of ownership, rejection of subdivision application by the annulling, incorrect application according to the ULAO report – etc. In this case, specific causes should have been shown.
In such a situation, the Ministry of Land has sent a letter to the Collectorate (Office of the Deputy Commissioners) to send a report – if the applicant has not been given seven working days or a reasonable time to submit documents if there is a shortage of any document, and if the order has not been given properly with specify reason for the rejection as per above circulation on January 16, 2023. At the same time, it is requested in the letter to send the report to the Ministry of Land if an officer is found in dereliction of duty by rejecting an application without valid reason.