Patna: The Bihar government has introduced a new system to resolve land disputes, moving weekly hearings from police stations to circle offices. From now on, meetings will be held every Saturday in each circle office, bringing together revenue and police officials to deal with cases.
In a letter issued on Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Land Reforms Department, Dipak Kumar Singh, instructed divisional commissioners, district magistrates and superintendents of police to implement the decision. The move is aimed at streamlining dispute resolution, as each circle office typically has more than one police station under its jurisdiction.
Under the new system, police station in-charges, circle officers, revenue officers and light employees of the division will be required to attend the weekly sessions. In the absence of a station in-charge, assistant officers will represent them. If a site inspection is needed, a joint team of police and revenue officials will be formed.
The letter also noted that any potential for violence arising from disputes must be reported to the sub-divisional magistrate. While records of the weekly meetings will be maintained offline, once a case is settled the details will be uploaded online. Officials have also been asked to monitor land mafias who buy and sell property using forged documents.
