Circle Officers to Authenticate Online Land Entries, Ensuring Consistency with Physical Records
In a significant ruling, the Jharkhand High Court has directed Circle Officers across the state to verify and authenticate digital land records with their digital signatures. This move aims to address the discrepancies between digital and physical land records, a problem highlighted in numerous writ petitions brought before the court.
Presiding Judge, Sri Ananda Sen, issued this directive while disposing of a writ petition by Ram Prakash Bhagat, who contended that digital land records inaccurately reflected his family’s land ownership despite correct entries in physical records. The court has mandated that Circle Officers ensure digital entries are mirror copies of physical registers, thereby preventing further confusion and legal disputes over land ownership.
The judgment emphasized the necessity of digital signatures from Circle Officers on online records as proof of their authenticity. The court also instructed the Secretary of the Department of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms to enforce these measures and make necessary software modifications to facilitate this process.
This order comes in response to the increasing number of cases where citizens have reported inaccuracies in the digital land records maintained by the government. The court’s decision aims to enhance the integrity and reliability of land records, providing a more robust framework for land ownership verification.
Bottom line:-
Digital records of land must reflect accurate entries as in the physical records. Circle Officers are directed to verify and authenticate digital land records with their digital signatures to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Statutory provision(s): Writ Petition, Land Records Maintenance and Authentication, Administrative Instructions
