HYDERABAD: The Government is contemplating fixing a deadline for surrender of assigned lands by those possessing them even as the reply by Revenue Minister D. Prasada Rao to the two-day debate on the issue has been posted for Monday.

If necessary, it will introduce a separate law to specify the deadline and set up the required enforcement machinery for prosecution for non-compliance before the time-limit.

This will be in addition to the ordinance already promulgated recently declaring all sales of assigned lands null and void and providing for their takeover by the Government.

This ordinance, however, will be replaced by a Bill during the current session itself of the Assembly. A decision has also been taken to set up special courts for possible litigation during the surrender.

Highly-placed sources said the Government would issue a statutory appeal shortly to those holding assigned lands asking them to surrender or face severe action. An official assessment indicated that large chunks of assigned lands are held by politicians, including elected representatives and Ministers-- past and present.

The extent of lands assigned by the Government to beneficiaries of different sections but found sold away and used for other purposes has been estimated at 9 lakh acres in the State.

Modalities were being worked out to fix eligibility for identifying the landless poor so that the recovered land could be allotted to them, the sources said.

For task of recovery itself, a commissionerate of ceiling land acquisition will be set up at the State level and special cells at district level.

A programme named "Bhooyagnam" on the lines of "Jalayagnam" will be launched to distribute 3 lakh acres annually out of the recovered lands.

Mr. Prasada Rao told The Hindu that the ordinance issued recently prohibiting transfer of assigned lands through sale was being implemented with retrospective effect.

He said it would be applied to all categories of assigned lands allotted to different beneficiaries for various purposes--agriculture lands, house-sites, those given for setting up industries under specific MoUs.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy reviewed the issues relating to recovery of assigned lands at a high-level meeting attended by V. P. Jauhari, Special Chief Secretary, Revenue, and A. Ragothama Rao, Chief Commissioner, Land Administration.

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