A major administrative crisis has hit the Kolathur village office, leaving daily operations in complete disarray and causing severe inconvenience to the public. For the past three months, the key post of village officer has remained vacant after the incumbent went on leave, leaving the local administrative machinery virtually leaderless.

Crippling shortage of staff
Though the Kuttikol village officer has been given additional charge of the Kolathur office, residents complain that he only visits on select days. This temporary arrangement has done little to resolve the crisis. To make matters worse, the office is facing an acute shortage of other crucial personnel. The position of special village officer is currently vacant, and there is only one village field assistant against the sanctioned strength of two. With only one village assistant and one field assistant trying to manage the entire workload, the office has ground to a near-halt.

Delays in land mutation and tax payments
The severe staff crunch has directly impacted essential public services, particularly land mutation (pokkuvaravu) and property tax collection. A large number of applications for land mutation, necessary for registering new title deeds, have been piling up daily. Due to the overwhelming pressure of daily office work, the limited staff are unable to find time for mandatory field inspections, leaving applications in limbo.

Furthermore, paying land tax for newly registered deeds requires a one-time password (OTP) sent to the village officer. In the officer's absence, this entire process has been blocked, causing immense frustration for property owners. Currently, only temporary tax payments are being accepted for land parcels with mismatched survey numbers. Correcting these discrepancies requires physical site verification, which has been stalled due to the lack of staff. Tired of endless delays and bureaucratic hurdles, local residents have urged the revenue authorities to immediately appoint a permanent village officer and deploy sufficient staff to restore normalcy at the Kolathur village office.