Restore PDOs power to issue 9/11A, 11B forms, says MLC

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Kishore Kumar Puttur, MLC, speaking during a press conference at his office in Mangaluru on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Kishore Kumar Puttur, MLC, on Tuesday urged the government to restore to panchayat development officers (PDOs) in gram panchayats the power to issue Form 9/11A, a document issued for non-agricultural properties, and Form 9/11B to people living in rural areas.

Form 11A and Form 11B are official property tax and khata extract documents issued by gram panchayats through the e-Swathu portal for properties under rural jurisdiction.

Form 11A is issued for fully compliant, legally approved and duly converted non-agricultural properties, while Form 11B is issued for properties recorded in panchayat registers strictly for tax collection purposes but which lack complete legal approval or conversion.

Addressing presspersons, the MLC said the government had recently vested Executive Officers of taluk panchayats with the power to issue Form 11A and authorised Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of zilla panchayats to issue Form 11B. This has resulted in unnecessary delays in issuing the two documents, which are required by people for constructing houses, he said. Hence, the powers should be restored to panchayat development officers (PDOs) in gram panchayats, as was the case earlier.

He said the e-Swathu portal too has many technical glitches. The government should set them right.

According to the reply given by the government in the Legislative Council recently, of the 1,84,22 applications received for Form 11A, 23,802 applications are yet to be cleared; 639 applications were rejected, while the form was issued to 1,53,795 applicants. In that, 253 applications were rejected in Dakshina Kannada and 55 applications were rejected in Udupi district.

The MLC said that of the 15,936 applications received seeking Form 11B, 8,892 applications are pending for approval, while 5,151 applications have been approved. If 65 applications are pending in Dakshina Kannada, 436 applications are pending in Udupi district. This shows that there is delay in approving the applications, he said.

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