Lucknow: A 35-year-old land record error that had prevented two farmers in Mahoba district from accessing land-related services and govt welfare benefits has finally been resolved after the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Kulpahar adopted an “out-of-the-box administrative approach” that avoided a prolonged legal process. Finding that the case involved incomplete identification rather than a dispute over ownership, SDM Aadesh Singh Sagar ordered a factual verification exercise, which ultimately led to the correction of the revenue records.The issue stemmed from a registered sale deed executed in 1991. While the purchasers’ full names were Prakash Sharma and Rajvishal, the document recorded them only as Prakash and Vishal. The same incomplete names were subsequently carried into the revenue records, even though their Aadhaar documents reflected their correct names.The discrepancy prevented the brothers from obtaining a correct khatauni, completing farmer registration, carrying out mutation, undertaking land transactions, and availing themselves of government welfare schemes. Officials said the issue had remained unresolved for nearly 35 years, despite repeated representations made over the past decade.Speaking to TOI, SDM Aadesh Singh Sagar said, “Correcting the original sale deed through a rectification deed was not feasible because it required the presence and consent of all parties, while the original seller had passed away. Section 38 of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code, 2006, which allows correction of clerical errors in revenue records, was also not applicable because the error originated in the registered sale deed. We also examined Section 144, but that would have involved a lengthy quasi-judicial process despite there being no ownership dispute.”“Therefore, we opted for factual verification at the village level and constituted a Land Management Committee (LMC), comprising the gram pradhan as chairperson and the lekhpal as secretary, to examine the matter. The village-level verification established that the abbreviated names in the records referred to the same individuals and that there was no dispute regarding ownership of the land,” said Sagar, a 2020-batch PCS officer from Rampur district.Based on the factual verification, the administration corrected the revenue records after following the prescribed legal procedure and issued revised khataunis to the farmers.“The farmers can now complete farmer registration, undertake land transactions and access government welfare schemes linked to accurate revenue records,” Sagar added.Prakash Sharma and Rajvishal said they had spent years trying to resolve the issue. “It still doesn’t feel real. We had been running from one office to another for years, but this time the matter was resolved in a single day,” they said.
