Chandigarh, April 16
A false reply filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a land acquisition matter has landed a Punjab IAS officer and several other revenue department officials in deep trouble.
Justice Ranjit Singh not only directed the imposition of Rs 50,000 costs on senior IAS officer Karan Avtar Singh, but also ordered it to be reflected in the service record. At the time of filing the reply, he was Secretary, Government of Punjab, department of public works.
This is, perhaps, the first time such heavy costs have been imposed on a bureaucrat. Justice Ranjit Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on executive engineer Satish Grover for signing the false reply. A fine of Rs 20,000 each was also imposed on the revenue department officials, including a tehsildar and a kunango.
Pronouncing the orders in an open court, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted Karan Avtar Singh was the one actually responsible for ensuring the reply was proper. He apparently failed in his duty.
Justice Ranjit Singh ruled what had happened in this case had shattered the faith, which normally the court had in persons filing replies. The respondents had, initially, stated land of the petitioners Devinder Singh of Nihang Singh Wala and other similarly situated persons in Moga district had been acquired for laying Shahkot-Moga-Ramgarh road. But during the pendency of the case, they claimed land had never been acquired.
The Bench of Justice JS Khehar and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur had asserted: “This case presents an extremely deplorable state of affairs at the hands of the state government”.
As many as 76 notices were issued, requiring the petitioner and others to vacate the land in their possession within 15 days. It was alleged the land in possession of the petitioners, and others to whom notices were issued, was unauthorised.
