The Bankura administration is developing a web portal to register all certificates issued by local bodies to stop malpractices after chief minister Mamata Banerjee got angry when a complaint was raised during an administrative review meeting in the district on February 12.

In the new system, all panchayats will have to upload the certificates with a specific number on the web portal to make it accessible by all block and district offices. This will help in online verification.

At the administrative review meeting, Chittaranjan Mahato, a Trinamul zilla parishad member from Ranibandh, referred to an incident where a farmer’s land had been registered in the names of her five sons to make them eligible for funds under the Krishak Bandhu scheme by falsely showing her as dead.

“Several instances of malpractice have been taking place at the land department in Ranibandh,” Mahato told the chief minister.

Mamata is said to have got angry and ordered Bankura district magistrate Uma Sankar S to conduct a thorough probe.

“Ei byapar ta todonto kora hobe ebong legal action newa hobe (this matter will be probed and the administration will take legal action),” the chief minister was quoted as saying.

Sources said officials found that the land records were transferred after a certificate was issued by the local gram panchayat. There was no reference number or record available for the certificate issued by the panchayat, according to the panchayat.

Officials said it was the practice of gram panchayats and municipalities to issue certificates for income and legal inheritance without keeping any record.

“In case of mutation of land records, we need to depend on the certificates from gram panchayats to know that the persons who applied for mutation are actually legal heirs. After the probe was ordered by our chief minister, we found that the problem started with those certificates,” Uma Sankar said.

“We are developing a portal where all panchayats and municipalities have to upload certificates issued by them on the portal and a related mobile application. All administrative and civic offices in the district will be able to access the documents by keying in the referral numbers,” the district magistrate added.

Khatra subdivisional officer Raju Mishra, who is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, has been assigned to develop the web portal and app.

Trinamul leaders welcomed the initiative but with a word of caution on ensuring that people are not harassed.

“We welcome the move. But the administration should keep in mind that people are not harassed in the name of technology,” said Subhashis Batabyal, the Trinamul Bankura president and deputy chief of the Bankura zilla parishad.