Land conversion applications gone awry again; 2,58,405 applications yet to be settled

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The processing of Land Conversion applications is facing problems again. As of mid-March, 2,58,405 applications are pending. A good number of revenue department employees are busy with election work. Their services will not be available until after the election. Governor not signing the bill to empower Deputy Collectors appointed in 78 taluks in addition to 27 RDOs has also become a setback.

Between 400 and 500 new applications are received daily. By the time the election is over, the online applications will pile up. Although 1319 employees including 197 LD typists, 201 UD typists and 921 office attendants were redeployed to offices with higher work load to speed up the process, the election was announced by the time the process was completed. The Fort Kochi RD office has the highest number of pending applications at 36,785. Kozhikode- 20,466 and Thrissur- 20,018 offices are in the second and third positions.

Special Adalats were held for the disposal of about one and a half lakh applications which were less than 25 cents in area and did not require payment of fees. About 70 percent of this has been settled. Government had completed processing through a special scheme earlier, when the offline (paper) applications increased exponentially. Applications were made online from January 2022 onwards.

Status of Applications

Received-4,18,754

To be settled-2,58,405