Telangana High Court: The petitioner in this writ prays to declare the action of the respondents in not issuing the Pattadar Pass Book-cum-Title Deed after Land Records Updation Program (LRUP), which was undertaken by the Government of Telangana on the ground of not obtaining Aadhar Number by the petitioner for agriculture land as illegal, arbitrary, capricious besides being in violation of Article 300-A of the Constitution. Surepalli Nanda, J.*, reiterated that citizens shall not be deprived of their statutory benefits merely on the ground of not having Aadhar card and thus, passed appropriate orders for issuance of pattadar passbook cum title deed in favour of the petitioner.
Background
The petitioner was the absolute owner and pattadar of some pieces of agriculture land, and all the moieties of properties were situated in Kothrepally Village, Vikarabad (‘Subject Property’). The petitioner acquired the Subject Property in 2003 by way of registered gift deed and two sale deeds, after paying consideration while getting it registered. Accordingly, the Pattadar Pass Books had been issued and entries were made in the name of the petitioner. In 2018, the Government of Telangana introduced a scheme, namely, LRUP, by way of which the petitioner’s agriculture land was scrutinized under the LRUP and the proceedings had been issued as per the procedure laid down in the Record of Rights in Land Act, 1971 (RoR Act).
The Government had re-mutated the entries of the petitioner into revenue records as owner and possessor of the Subject Property. In spite of mutation of the petitioner’s name in all the revenue records pertaining to the Subject Property, the proposed Pattadar Pass Book-cum-Title Deed had not been issued, therefore, the petitioner made a representation to issue pattadar passbook cum-title deed under the LRUP scheme. Being aggrieved by the action of the respondents and non-response to the representations made, an application was made under RTI through the petitioner’s authorized person asking the reasons for not issuing Pattadar Pass Book-cum-Title Deed. The respondent in response to the RTI application stated that the Pattadar Pass Book-cum-Title Deed had not been issued in favour of the petitioner as she did not submit her Aadhar Number. Further, the respondent asked the petitioner to apply mutation in Dharani portal in NRI Module as lands had to be updated in revenue records through online Dharani portal.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court inferred that the only reason for not considering the petitioner’s representation for issuance of pattadar passbook cum title deed was that the petitioner had not submitted the Aadhar Number. The Court noted that the petitioner could not obtain any Aadhar number since the petitioner was suffering from Diabetic Neuropathy as a result of which her hand fingerprints and the iris impressions could not be obtained, and due to the said physical inability and medical reasons, the petitioner could not secure the Aadhar card. The Court further noted that petitioner was directed to make online application under the module of “NRI Portal in Dharani Site” along with material documents and in spite of the petitioner’s efforts, due to certain technical issues, the Survey numbers against which land was possessed by the petitioner were not displayed in Dharani Portal NRI module.
The Court finally opined that the petitioner could not be denied the relief prayed for in the present case on the ground that the petitioner did not have the Aadhar card. The Court relied on K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1, wherein the Supreme Court held that the citizen of India shall not be deprived of his statutory benefits merely on the ground of not having Aadhar card. The Court allowed the present writ petition and directed the respondent to reconsider the petitioner’s request for issuance of pattadar passbook cum title deed for agriculture land without insisting the petitioner to submit Aadhar Card or its details.
[Amina Begum v. State of Telangana, 2023 SCC OnLine TS 3022, decided on 16-08-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: T.Balaswami, Advocate
For the Respondents: G.P. for Revenue
*Judgement authored by – Justice Surepalli Nanda
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