Appeal submitted to legalize the service of “volunteers” working in state sub-registration offices.
Meditation Center for Right to Information
No. 54, 17th cross road, M. C. Layout,
Vijayanagar, Bangalore 560040 - Date: 05.03.2023
The judge. Mr. B. S. Patil
Respected Lokayukta
Karnataka Lokayukta
Dr. Ambedkar road
Bangalore 560001.
The judge. Mr. K. What. Phanindra
Honorable Deputy Commissioner
Karnataka Lokayukta
Bangalore 560001.
Respected people,
Topic :: Appeal submitted to legalize the service of “volunteers” working in state sub-registration offices.
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It is commendable that the Lokayukta officers have recently inspected the sub-registration offices in Bangalore and mentioned several flaws in their report.
It is known to everyone that many unauthorized individuals have been operating on old records for several decades in all the sub-registration offices across the state. It is very sad that no action is taken despite several requests to the government to legalize the service of “volunteers” working in the state sub-registration offices. It is a clear violation of the corruption law that the deputy authorities are illegally obtaining from the public as the government does not approve these “volunteers” service.
Even though the work has been going on continuously for decades, the government not taking any action in this regard has led to the increase in corruption in sub-registration offices.
It is still a struggle to obtain a confirmed copy of records before 1.4.2004 in most sub-registration offices in the state. It is known to everyone that volunteers are maintaining records more than 150 years ago. Honorable Justice Santosh Hegde was a Lokayukta, Shri retired district collector to study this. He appointed Channabasappa and informed to give a report.
Mr. Channabasappa in his report cited the service of volunteers working in most of the state sub-registration offices to legalize their service, also said that it was an inhumane and corruption act. In his report, he also mentioned that getting the payments given to volunteers from the public is corruption.
Due to the shortage of staff in the sub-registration offices of the state, there is a situation where the service of volunteers must be utilized. The main reason for this is the lack of essential staff and the lack of additional posts. Only one first grade assistant and one second grade assistant positions were granted in the office of most deputy registrars. There are several vacancies in some offices and no action to fill them is the reason for the problem to become complicated.
More posts need to be created to manage old records and provide confirmed copy to the public. A first grade assistant position, a second grade assistant and a fourth grade employee requirement is essential and urgently required for building files. The problem can be solved by hiring outside employees as the government restrictions on recruitment of employees and the requirement of at least three employees.
Several orders of the Information Commission have also found that the Department of Registration and Sealing have not taken necessary measures for the maintenance and protection of old files.
Currently giving of volunteers' payments with the citizens unauthorized money is the root cause of corruption. This has also put a burden on citizens. Also a clear violation of the law of public records as unauthorized individuals are still involved in the management of old files in sub-registration offices. Incidents have also been reported that some anti-social individuals are benefiting by threatening the deputy registrars as the reason for this violation.
Recently when Lokayukta officials inspected all sub registration offices in Bangalore, it was observed that unauthorized persons working in the old records section and it is very necessary for the government to take immediate action to solve this problem.
Also, it is commendable that the government has taken the decision to digitize old files in order to address this issue. But very slow digitalization work is underway and practically the work of the Gandhinagar office is in progress. It is necessary to give high priority to this task.
The volunteer issue has spread not only to the offices of sub-registration officials but also to the office of district registrars. This has also obstructed the performance of the district registration officers.
It is a department that provides about twenty thousand crore revenue to the state's bouquet and the economic departments keeping silence in allocating more posts in the name of economic problems. Revenue Minister should note this. It is his responsibility to immediately stop the situation where the public has to receive service by giving more money illegally than the fixed fees.
We request the government to consider the following suggestions for the solution to this problem and direct the citizens to get good service in time and to take appropriate action regarding this issue.
1. Creating more posts for Human Resource Studies and Management of Old Files.
2. Turning the currently working volunteer service into an outdoors service.
3. Digitalization of old documents and index of assets (Index) digitalization.
4. Appointment of Public Record Officers in all Sub Registration offices and District Registration Officers.
We hope that the solution to this problem will help citizens get the service they deserve within the stipulated period without paying more than a fixed fee.
With greetings,
Your believer,
S. Amaresh B. H. Veeresh
Executive Trustee Trustee
A copy of :
1. Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore
2. Secretary General, Revenue Department, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
3. General Inspector, Department of Registration and Sealing, Bangalore.
Submitted for information and appropriate action. :