Mumbai, Feb 10 (IANS) In a landmark decision aimed at bringing greater transparency and speed to land revenue proceedings across the state, the Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday approved amendments to the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 to make service of notices of revenue hearings through email legally valid. The proposal was moved by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
“Until now, notices for revenue hearings were required to be served either through personal/hand delivery or by post under the existing provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. Delays frequently occurred due to technical issues such as non-receipt of notice, incorrect or untraceable addresses, or refusal to accept the notice — often resulting in repeated adjournments of hearings. With the amendment carried out in Section 230, a notice sent to the party’s officially registered or provided email ID will now be deemed to have been validly and legally served,” said Bawankule.
Approximately 12,000 land-related cases are currently pending at the secretariat level. A significant portion of these delays stems solely from the time-consuming process of serving physical notices.
Minister Bawankule said, “The primary reason thousands of land-related cases in revenue courts remained pending for years was the issue of ‘non-receipt of notice.’ Legal recognition of email-based notice service has now closed this major loophole. The justice delivery process in revenue matters will now become significantly faster and more reliable.”
Minister Bawankule said the new provision will save considerable time previously spent on postal dispatch or personal service, bring greater transparency to the process, provide technical proof of dispatch and delivery of the email, eliminate the common excuse of “notice not received,” prevent repeated adjournments of hearing dates and ultimately ensure faster delivery of justice to ordinary citizens.
He said that the decision to digitise notice service is yet another decisive step towards paperless and efficient administration, reinforcing the government’s commitment to Digital India objectives.
–IANS
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