Rajasthan High Court directs state government to appoint three assistant collectors in revenue cases in state

The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to appoint three assistant collectors in every district to deal with the mounting pendency of revenue cases in the state.

In the wake of the impending assembly polls, the court ordered that the government will comply with this direction within two weeks of the declaration of the election result.

A division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nadrajog and Justice P S Bhati gave these directions while disposing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Moti Singh, who claimed that over 3.80 lakh revenue cases and appeals have been pending in the state for the past two decades.

"The first level officer for the hearing of the cases under Rajasthan Tenancy Act 1955 and Rajasthan Land Revenue Act 1956, is the Assistant Collector (ADM) and they remain busy with work related to administration most of the time with no adequate time to hear the revenue cases," Singh said.

Terming this to be a major cause of augmented pendency of the cases, the petitioner prayed for directions for appointment of at least three assistant collectors in each district, who would hear only revenue cases and no work related to magistrate and sub-division offices.

AAG P R Singh, however, argued that the assistant collectors would not be able to work on revenue matters on account of their engagement in election-related matters.

Agreeing with the argument, the division bench directed compliance of the order within two weeks of the declaration of assembly election result.  

(With inputs from agencies.)