Bhubaneswar: The Revenue and Disaster Management Department has constituted a high-level committee to review and comprehensively revise the existing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manuals for the recording of government and private (raiyat) land.
Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, has issued orders for the preparation of a draft of the revised SOPs, following a decision taken by the State Government.
The existing SOP manuals were last published in 1990. With significant changes in policies, rules, and administrative practices over the past 35 years, the government has decided that a thorough revision of the manuals is necessary.
The committee will be headed by the Special Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Its members include the Additional Secretary (Consolidation & Settlement), Director of Land Records & Surveys, Odisha (DLR&S), a representative from the Board of Revenue, and the Joint Administrative Member-Coordinator of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department.
The committee has been tasked with reviewing the 1990 SOPs, examining all new laws, rules, government circulars, and subsequent instructions issued since then, and preparing a fresh draft of the SOPs in simple Odia and English languages. The committee has been given one month’s time to submit the draft revised SOP manual to the government for approval. It has also been permitted to consult other experts and officials as and when required.
