Patna: The Bihar government has announced a time-bound campaign to resolve thousands of pending land and revenue-related cases, with officials instructed to clear all backlog by June 30.
The decision was taken during a review meeting of the Revenue and Land Reforms Department chaired by minister Dr Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, who directed officials to accelerate work on e-measurement (e-maapi), Jamabandi corrections and disposal of pending applications arising after last year’s “Revenue Mega Campaign”.
Officials said 81% of applications received so far have been scanned and uploaded. The minister has set a deadline of May 31 to ensure all remaining applications are digitised, after which cases will be processed in a phased manner.
A key focus of the review was the ongoing Farmer Registry exercise and the AgriStack scheme. The minister said errors in around 660,000 Jamabandis must be corrected on priority, calling it essential for the effective rollout of farmer-linked welfare schemes. He stressed that meeting central government timelines was crucial to ensure farmers receive benefits without delay.
The meeting also reviewed delays in e-measurement cases. Officials informed the department that around 48,000 cases have been pending, largely due to a recent strike by circle officers and revenue staff. Dr Jaiswal directed that all such cases must be cleared by June 30 “without exception”.
On digitisation, the department reported that around 330 million pages of land records have already been scanned and uploaded, enabling citizens to access land documents online. So far, more than 1.5 million people have received digital copies of records.
The minister also flagged concerns over missing cadastral (Khatiyan) records for nearly 8,000 villages across the state. He said the government would publish public notices and seek assistance from citizens to trace and submit old land documents in their possession.
Land revenue collection was also reviewed during the meeting, with officials directed to examine the feasibility of revising land revenue rates.
Senior officials, including department secretary Jai Singh, additional secretary Ajiv Vatsaraj, Dr Mahendra Pal, OSD Mani Bhushan Kishore and deputy secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh, attended the meeting.
