Maharashtra to Launch ‘Revenue Manual’ on Its Foundation Day

Mumbai: In a bid to make the lives of peasants and officials easier, the Maharashtra government is planning to launch a revenue manual in the state. Since the formation of Maharashtra, there is no manual of the revenue department to address the issues of the agriculture land. Although there are various government resolutions, circulars, revenue codes, and court judgments, they are often too complex for the common man to understand. With help of this revenue manual, the citizen can easily approach the concerned authorities with their issues and get it resolved.

The revenue manual will be in the public domain on May 1 —Maharashtra Foundation Day. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called the revenue manual ‘Geeta’ for the officials as they can refer to this while taking the decision. Mr. Fadnavis said that the revenue manual will be helpful for the ease of doing business and ease of living. The chief minister congratulated the revenue department for using Artificial intelligence (AI) and human intelligence for drafting of the revenue manual.

Neighbouring Gujarat state had come up with a revenue manual first in the country when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister. Referring to Gujarat’s revenue manual, Rajesh Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of Maharashtra Revenue department gave a task to his department to draft a revenue manual for Maharashtra. The manual “Revenue Officers Handbook” was part of the state government’s 100-day programme. The chief minister on Saturday launched “draft of revenue manual” at the revenue department workshop in Pune.

Officials said that the revenue manual has standardised work in all six Commissionerate, 36 Collectorates, 355 Tehsils, which will follow the same procedure and interpretation of law. All services rendered by the Revenue Department can be digitised.

ACS Rajesh Kumar said the revenue manual contains all the functions and processes to address revenue issues. “The revenue manual is like a guideline for the officials. We will come up with a final copy of the revenue manual by May 1st 2025,” Mr. Kumar said.

Another official said that the CM had formed a committee under the Pune Divisional Commissioner to do away with unnecessary processes that create inefficiency. “Public would have access to an easy and simple book which they can refer to ensure compliance with law,” officials said.

To prepare the manual, a committee of Collectors was formed under Konkan Divisional Commissioner Vijay Suryavanshi. Jalgaon Collector Ayush Prasad played a key role in preparing the revenue manual by using Artificial Intelligence. “All the Laws, starting with a law going back as 1827; all rules, all GRs, all circulars and all court judgements were collated from different sources. Duties of Collector, SDO (Sub-Divisional Office), and Tehsil Offices were collected from all the districts. The information has been fed into the AI to generate the revenue manual. After release of the draft of the revenue manual, it has been sent to all the collectors and revenue officers in the state for further verification and incorporating local practices, so that it becomes perfect,” said a senior official.