Chikkamagaluru: Thousands of houses in Narasimharajapura taluk do not have property documents and e-Khata, due to which, villagers are being deprived of several govt facilities.The taluk has 14 gram panchayats and one town panchayat. As per revenue records, there are 22,738 houses in GP limits. Of these, e-Khata has been issued to only 7,274 houses. Under Karnataka Land Revenue Act, Section 94C, 11,432 applications have been received in rural areas. Of these, 1,422 cases have been approved and 9,044 rejected. A total of 10,496 have been disposed of, and 936 are pending, revenue officials stated.In the town panchayat limits, 443 applications have been received under 94C. Twenty-nine were approved, 414 rejected. However, NR Pura tahasildar Noor-Ul-Hooda said the residents cannot avail any benefits without proper documents for their houses. Due to certain issues, unauthorised constructions will not get title. However, she also said that there were chances for ST community people to get documents although they constructed houses in forest area, she added.As per 1993 Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, building permission must be taken from the local GP before construction. For areas outside GP limits, permission must be taken under 1961 Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act after verifying if the land is converted for residential/commercial use.For houses built in forest areas, NOC is being issued to give documents to houses in other areas. Joint survey of forest and revenue land is under way. Once completed, the document issue for many houses in inhabited areas can be resolved, said a forest officer. According to officials, majority of houses were constructed on forest and govt land. It is a policy matter and officials cannot take any decision in this regard.
