High-level review of Dharani following security concerns

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The Telangana government's digital land administration system has once again come under intense scrutiny following revelations from a forensic audit of the Dharani portal. The audit reportedly identified several technical and security shortcomings in the platform, which was introduced by the previous government to streamline land registration, mutation, and ownership records. In response, the state has initiated a comprehensive review of the newer Bhu Bharati portal, which was developed using the same underlying technology. A high-level committee has been constituted and directed to submit its findings within 15 days.

The Dharani portal was launched on October 29, 2020, by the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government with the objective of fully digitizing land registration and land records management in Telangana. The platform was designed as a single online interface for services including agricultural land registration, mutation, issuance of pattadar passbooks, ownership updates, and maintenance of land records. It also introduced automatic mutation immediately after land registration, with the aim of reducing human intervention, increasing transparency, curbing corruption, and eliminating the need for farmers to repeatedly visit revenue offices.

However, the portal soon became the subject of widespread criticism. Thousands of farmers and landowners complained of errors in land records, delays in inheritance-related mutations, changes to survey numbers, disappearance of land details from official records, and limited avenues for correcting mistakes. While in opposition, the Congress party consistently criticized Dharani, alleging that the portal lacked transparency, provided no effective appellate mechanism for aggrieved landowners, and made it difficult to rectify errors in official records.

Government forms multi-agency investigation committee

To conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the alleged irregularities associated with both Dharani and Bhu Bharati, the Telangana government has constituted a special high-level committee which includes district collectors, officials from the Information Technology, Police, Registration and Stamps Department,and experts from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The committee has been tasked with investigating the alleged irregularities, identifying those responsible, and recommending appropriate departmental and legal action. It is expected to submit its report to the government within 15 days.

In light of the security issues highlighted by the forensic audit, the Telangana government has decided to undertake a complete redesign of the technological architecture underpinning its digital land administration system rather than merely addressing individual vulnerabilities.