The Punjab government today notified a six-member 'Revenue Commission' to bring in a greater efficiency and accountability in the functioning of the Revenue Department.

Key Facts :

• Justice (Retd) SS Saron of Punjab and Haryana high court, who will head the commission.
• The Punjab Land Record Society will act as secretarial to the Commission.
• The commission will examine Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972 and other related Acts and Manuals administered by the Department of Revenue, to assess their relevance in the present scenario of land use and land holdings.
• The Commission would review the existing policies with regard to disposal and utilization of government lands.
• This commission was set up to revisit the existing Land Acts and to make them relevant with the changed land use situation.
• The commission will also examine the need for new Acts or the amendments of the existing ones to legalise the land lease practices in the state.

Analysis :

• This will Roll out the roadmap of more transparent and more accountable Revenue Administration by the use of available techniques of Information Technology, in order to achieve the ultimate vision of making land laws, procedures, processes and practices in tune with requirements of modern agricultural and non agricultural uses.
• The new Act would provide a firm basis for a modern high value agriculture/horticulture in place of current mono culture of wheat-paddy.
• This step will replace the current practice of presumptive ownership with appropriate legal title.
• The introduction of transparent land leasing laws that allow the potential tenant or sharecropper to engage in written contracts with the landowner is a win-win reform.
• The tenant will have an incentive to make investment in improvement of land, landowner will be able to lease land without fear of losing it to the tenant and the government will be able to implement its policies efficiently.

Punjab Land Record Society :

Punjab Land Records Society is a society established (under Registration of Societies Act, 1860) by the Government of Punjab to formulate strategies, polices, plans and to assist the State Government and Government of India in the effort to provide efficient and prompt services in the public matters. relating to land and revenue, through the use of Information Technology and its related fields. The primary objective of the Punjab Land Records Society (PLRS) is to oversee, monitor the implementation of computerization and digitization of Land Records and related documents in Punjab for the overall benefit of the citizens and to provide Land Records related services through multiple common access infrastructeres like Sukhmani Centres to the public. This Society is a State level body being constituted specifically to mange the Land Records in all its dimensions and would work under the overall policy framework of Punjab State E- Governance Society (PSEGS).