THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Revenue Department's boasting that it will speed up the disposal of the applications for reclassification of property remains a mere announcement. As of September 6, more than 2,27,985 applications are pending. Thousands of landowners are waiting in each district after filing applications.

Although the government issued an order allotting 372 posts for the disposal of applications, this was not even reported to the PSC. The posts of 68 junior superintendents, 181 clerks, and 123 surveyors have been allotted for a period of two years. This was left to the PSC as it would take more than six months. Appointment to the post of Junior Superintendent is to be made through promotion. A rank list of clerks currently exists. PSC can start recruitment only after getting district-wise information on posts. It usually takes at least two months for all these things to be implemented. By then, the number of applications received will increase by at least 30,000. It was also said that 220 vehicles will be provided on a contract basis for one year. No action has been taken on that either.

Earlier, Kerala Kaumudi had published a report when the offline applications piled up like this. Following this, the Revenue Department woke up and worked efficiently. Work was speeded up then by making appointments to 990 temporary posts for 6 months through the Employment Exchange. The Revenue Department had hired 340 vehicles as well.

The Legislative Assembly has approved a bill to empower Deputy Collectors appointed in 78 taluks to dispose of applications in addition to 27 RDOs. The Commissioner of Land Revenue has been directed to redeploy 1319 employees, including 197 LD typists, 201 UD typists, and 921 office attendants, to the overburdened offices, but that too has not been completed yet.