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| Transfer of registration powers to revenue officials fraught with dangerous ramification | | Lawyers' Strike | | NEHA
JAMMU, Dec 12: There is an impression that the Jammu lawyers are on the warpath to protect and advance further their financial interests and that this is the fundamental objective of their movement against the NC-Congress coalition government's sudden decision to transfer registration powers from the judiciary to the revenue officials. This appears to be a wrong impression. Actually, the concerned and awakened lawyers are fighting for the cause of the people. It is indeed appreciable that they have understood the game-plan of the state government and taken the plunge to surmount the problem the people would face at the hands of the revenue officials at the time of getting registration done in case the courts are divested of registration powers. The decision, if implemented, would surely jeopardize the interests of the common masses and make the system of registration costly and cumbersome.
That the state government suddenly discarded the nearly 100-year-old practice by transferring registration powers to the revenue officials does suggest that the intentions of those behind the move are questionable. It was after 1913, when judiciary was separated from executive in Jammu and Kashmir by the State Council under Maharaja Pratap Singh, that the courts were charged with the responsibility of registering documents, including sale deeds. The decision was taken considering the fact that the revenue magistracy of the time was corrupt to the core and the revenue officials of all categories had been harassing and fleecing general public. Another factor that had made the State Council separate judiciary from executive was that their powers and jurisdiction over-lapped - a situation that had virtually undermined the justice system and added to the problems of the people.
The attitude of the bulk of revenue officials has not undergone any change whatever. It is a common belief that most of the revenue officials adopt delaying tactics for purposes not difficult to understand. Those who go to revenue officials for obtaining state subject certificate or fard know where the shoe actually pinches. It is also a common belief that the courts take minimum time to register sale deeds and deeds related to other issues dealing with land, property and so. There are many, like advocate Sham Sunder Anand Lehar, who believe that the transfer of registration power to the revenue department would promote "corruption" and help the "land mafia".
It was no wonder then that the people cutting across political lines and rising above all considerations joined the dharna organized by the Bar Association, Jammu, two days ago. The dharna was an impressive affair. It was then hoped that the state government would respect the people's sentiment and rescind the highly controversial order, but it has not happened. The result is that the BAJ has decided to intensify what it calls the "people-centric and Jammu-centric movement". The government needs to consider the demand as put forth by the protesting lawyers and fully supported by the people. Not to do so would be only to provoke a major agitation in Jammu, agitation similar to the ones the state government witnessed in 1998 and 2008. In 1998, the NC government would have collapsed, had it not accepted the popular student demands. And, in 2008, the Congress-led government collapsed due to the Jammu agitation. Statesmanship demands deft handling of the situation arising out of the controversy generated by the controversial order.
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