More than 3,500 original land records have gone “missing” from government custody in Sanand, which has turned into a real estate hotspot with the Tatas setting up the Nano plant there. Revenue officials admit that no effort has been taken to find these records or fix responsibility.

Hari Vaghela, the officer in charge of land records (Talati) in Sanand, revealed this in his reply to an RTI application filed by The Indian Express. According to the reply, records from No. 1 to 3036 and from No 5046 to 5564 have gone “missing”. Vaghela said the records were sent to the Mamlatdar’s office and were never returned.

But Mamlatdar Sudhir Patel, denied this. “I have verified it, the Talati has no evidence to prove that the records were sent to Mamlatdar’s office and were not received back by him. Records of rights documents are part of the Talati office and they are responsible for it,” he said.

With both the Talati and Mamlatdar passing the buck, the land owners are in trouble. Pankaj Vaghela, a member of Ahmedabad District Panchayat staying in Godhavi village, said: “The records are necessary to prove right over a piece of land. With these documents missing many people who want to establish their right on their land won’t be able to file even a civil suit. Many small land owners have been left helpless by this mess up, “ he adds.

RTI activist Harinesh Pandya said the ‘record of rights’ documents fall under Category ‘A’ which have to be preserved by the Revenue Department forever. “If for some reason the records have been destroyed, they have to be regenerated or restored. If these documents have gone missing, the Revenue Department has to fix the responsibility on the officer concerned,” he explained, calling it a “very serious lapse”.

... contd.