The Telangana state government has released guidelines for the regularisation of layouts. The process will involve reviewing and approving applications in three phases. For this purpose, a special application developed by the Centre for Good Governance will be used.
The issue of layout regularisation, which had been pending for years in the state, has now gained momentum. Recently, the Revanth government has released the guidelines for this process and has relaxed some regulations. It has granted permissions to approve pending applications. In 2020, the then BRS government announced the LRS scheme and invited applications related to it. At that time, the government collected a fee of Rs 1000 per application. As a result, a total of 25 lakh applications were received for LRS. However, the process was halted due to court cases.
Since coming to power, the Congress government has made several key announcements regarding the LRS (Layout Regularisation Scheme). They have stated that they will make positive decisions for the benefit of the applicants. Recently, they have permitted the regularisation of layouts in municipalities and village panchayats and released guidelines for this purpose. The applications will be reviewed and approved in three phases. The process will be managed through a special application developed by the Centre for Good Governance (CGG).
First phase
In the first phase, applications will be reviewed based on the specially designed Centre for Good Governance application. Permissions for layouts on government lands and layouts on disputed lands will be halted at this stage. Details from the Dharani portal and survey numbers will be checked against government records. Comprehensive information about the layouted land will be identified, and a field-level inspection will be conducted with a special team including the Revenue Inspector, Irrigation Department Assistant Engineer, Panchayat Executive Officer, and other officials. This team will examine whether the land belongs to the government, if there are any court disputes, and other relevant details. These details will be recorded in a specially designed mobile app.
Second phase..
In the first phase, applications that are cleared will be reviewed in this stage. Town Planning and Panchayat officials will examine these applications. Technical aspects such as layout details, whether the required open spaces have been left, whether roads have been constructed, and other relevant technical details will be scrutinised in this phase. If everything is found to be in order, the layout regularization fee will be decided for that application. Applications with the fee paid will be forwarded to the third phase.
Third phase..
This is the final phase. Applications that have passed the first two stages will be reviewed in this phase. Municipal Commissioners, Vice-Chairpersons of Urban Development Authorities, and Additional Collectors of Local Bodies will thoroughly examine the applications at this stage. If there are any deficiencies, the applications will be rejected; otherwise, they will be sent to the relevant authorities for approval.
Within three months…
The government has specified in its orders that the LRS process should be initiated in the first week of this month and the field-level inspections should be completed within three months. Collectors of all districts, GHMC, HMDA Commissioners, senior officials of the Registration Department, and officials from the Panchayat, Revenue, and Irrigation Departments are advised to take initiative in this regard.
