While resuming the hearing of a suo motu case on corruption in provincial land revenue departments, the Supreme Court granted three months to all provinces to computerise the land revenue record. A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain was hearing the case on Friday.
Earlier, the Court had directed the land revenue departments of all provinces to submit a fortnightly progress report on the computerisation of land record. Punjab and Sindh governments were also directed to provide technical assistance to Balochistan and Khyber-Pukhtoonkhawa governments in this regard.
During the proceedings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that irregularities in provincial land revenue record was the major source of corruption which increased litigations. The bench also observed that after the land record was digitised, litigations would reduce.
The Punjab project's deputy directors informed the bench that in 12 districts, computerisation centers had started working and the operation in other districts would be completed in two months. He displayed the computerisation process in the court. The member of the Sindh Revenue Board informed the court that as many as 27 computerisation centers would start working in three months.
The CJP observed that work on computerising the land record should be started from those areas where feudal landlords held sway. He said huge bribes were given for the transfers of Patwaris and Gurdawars. The Chief Justice directed officials to expedite the pace of work to digitise land revenue record.