The Dharani Committee has submitted critical recommendations to the Telangana government concerning the Dharani portal, which was launched in September 2020. To ensure no unauthorized changes have occurred since its launch, the committee has suggested a third-party audit of the portal. This comes in response to concerns about unauthorized alterations, such as changes to landowners’ names, survey numbers, and land area, as well as the inclusion of certain survey numbers in restricted lists.
The committee has recommended that the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), or TSOnline manage the Dharani portal to safeguard government data and address privacy issues. The state government had earlier set up a committee with officials like M. Kodanda Reddy and M. Sunil Kumar to address these issues, and plans to rename the Dharani portal to “Bhumaata” while amending the Right of Records (RoR) Act, 2020, and introducing new regulations under RoR Act, 2024.
Additionally, the Dharani Committee has proposed the establishment of a Land Governance Innovation Cell and a Legal Support Cell to assist with land reforms. The committee also suggests initiating a new rural program to resolve pending applications, update land records, and remove pre-1958 assigned lands from restricted lists. Given the removal of Village Revenue Officers (VROs) and Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs), the committee emphasizes the need for a dedicated official to support farmers and manage land administration, alongside establishing Village Revenue Courts to address land disputes.