M A I N   N E W S

Punjab bans fertiliser sale
Tribune News Service

BATHINDA, March 2 — Punjab government has imposed temporary ban on the sale of fertiliser in the state till further orders.

This was disclosed here today by Mr Deep Singh Sahota, Director, Agriculture, Punjab. He added that all Chief Agriculture Officers (CAOs) of all districts of Punjab had been asked to send the information of stock of fertiliser with the dealers in their respective areas to the head office at the earliest.

He pointed out that the Punjab government would ensure that old stocks of fertiliser with the dealers should be sold to farmers at old price of fertiliser prevailing before the presentation of Union Budget on February 29.

He added that according to estimates, five lakh tonnes of various types of fertiliser was lying with the dealers of Punjab at present. He added that the Punjab government had arranged the fertiliser including urea, DAP, single superphosphate and others for next crop season.

He also added that superior seed for cotton, paddy and maize crops had also been arranged in sufficient quantity for supply to the farmers in the next crop reason.

He claimed that if the weather conditions remained favourable 146 lakh tonnes of wheat would be produced in Punjab in this season and it would be record production from 33.35 lakh hectares.

Mr Sahota said that farmers had been advised to follow the guidelines of the Agriculture Department while sowing cotton and transplanting paddy. He added paddy would be cultivated on 23.50 lakh hectares in the coming season to achieve the target of 87 lakh tonnes of paddy. He added that cotton would be sown on six lakh hectares to produce 15 lakh bales of cotton in Punjab.

Mr Sahota said that farmers of the state were being persuaded to meet the challenge which they would face when the world would become an open market under international treaties.

The director pointed out that due to increase in the price rate of urea, cost of cultivation would also go up.

Later, Mr Sahota, Mr Jaspal Singh, Deputy Commissioner, addressed the farmers gathered here on the occasion of kisan mela organised by the Agriculture Department.

Punjab to delete colonial law
Registration of land deeds outside state
By Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 2 — Punjab has finally woken up to bid goodbye to a colonial law that is being misused by property buyers and sellers.

The Punjab Government has decided to delete the operative part of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, by which the Registrar of Delhi and the erstwhile presidency towns — Chennai, Mumbai and Calcutta — were authorised to register any document referred in Section 30(2) of the Act pertaining to Punjab and any other part of the country.

The Punjab Cabinet has already cleared the proposal which was put before it by the Punjab Revenue Department in this connection. The Revenue Minister, Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan told TNS today that after effecting the necessary amendments to the Act, it would be sent to the President of India for his assent.

There would not only be an increase in the revenue from stamp duty but also such deletion in the Act would go a long way in eliminating the chances of frauds which were often committed while registering land and property deeds and other such documents if these were registered out of the state.

As per the existing provisions in the Act, the Registrars posted in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Calcutta are authorised to register a land or property deed or document pertaining to any part of Punjab. The revenue from the stamp duty charged while registering such documents goes to these cities.

Mr Sekhwan said that it had come to his notice that vested interests were getting their deeds registered in Delhi. They were not only denying revenue in the form of stamp duty to Punjab but were also suspected to be involved in shady deals to avoid the income tax net.

In fact, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India had examined such registered documents in Delhi in the recent past. It had found that as many as 6200 deeds worth Rs 194.62 crore were registered in Delhi. The states concerned were not informed about the registration of such documents though as per the provisions of the Act information to the States concerned should have been furnished.

Already the neighbouring state of Haryana and some other states like Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have deleted this portion of the Act. Some states had approached the Central Government to do away with this operative part of the Act.

Mr Sekhwan said that following deletion of the Section 30(2) of the Act, the deeds and other documents would be registered only in Punjab. In fact, he said that such documents would be registered only at the tehsil concerned. As registration work had been by and large computerised in the state, there would be no scope of registering such documents outside the office of the registrars and sub registrars concerned.

Meanwhile, he said that the Revenue Department had been given a target to collect Rs 350 crore as revenue during the current financial year.