Land scam: Kanungo, patwari booked for misplacing file

Rajinder Nagarkoti

  Tribune News Service

Panchkula, February 10

A kanungo and a patwari of the Land Acquisition Department, Haryana, have been booked for misplacing a government file in connection with the Rs 60-crore shamlat land compensation scam in Panchkula district. 

 On the complaint of Land Acquisition Officer Dheeraj Chahal, an FIR was registered against patwari Ramgopal and kanungo Rajbir Singh under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC. The scam is being investigated by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau. 

In July 2017, an FIR was registered by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau regarding the scam in which Rs 60-crore extra compensation was paid for land acquisition at Chowki village of Panchkula district.

Former HUDA Administrator Sanjiv Verma had unearthed the scam. He had recommended the registration of an FIR or inquiry through the Vigilance Bureau besides taking a disciplinary action. 

The inquiry committee, formed by Verma in November 2015, had pointed out lapses on the part of the officials and and held them responsible for the scam. 

The land, measuring 274.96 acres in Chowki, Bir Ghaggar and Nada villages, was notified under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, in 1998 for setting up Sector 32 in Panchkula. An award was announced on July 30, 2003, for area measuring 224.28 acres, which included the land at Chowki village. 

There was an inter-se dispute between the co-sharers in the shamlat land, measuring 541 bighas and 17 biswas. A lower court in January 2014 then settled the dispute over the division and enhanced the land compensation. But the inquiry report pointed out that the then land acquisition officer estimated their shares in the total shamlat land instead of just 541 bighas and 17 biswas. 

Probe points out Rs 60 cr loss to exchequer

• According to the inquiry report, there were seven parties who had amassed a profit of Rs 60 crore. They were to be paid Rs 64.05 crore but were given Rs 124.12 crore instead. 
• “The landowners have been paid enhanced compensation of Rs 60 crore for the area that is still in their possession and is yet to be acquired by the government by concealing the facts by the officials concerned of the land acquisition office in Panchkula,” said the inquiry report. 
• It added, “It is concluded that the move is fraudulent with loss to the state exchequer. A huge sum was paid in excess to the landowners and now it is to be recovered, along with interest, and strict action is required to be taken in this regard.”