Relieve Prince Dhawan, says Solanki; Centre reluctant

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10

A 2012-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer, Prince Dhawan, seems to have become a bone of contention between the UT Administration and the Union Department of Land Reforms.

While UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki has categorically ordered the immediate relieving of Dhawan, who is posted as the Director Information Technology (DIT), Assistant Estate Officer (AEO) and SDM (Central), after his two-month extended stint ended on July 31, the Union Department of Land Reforms is pressing hard for his continuation.

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However, no formal order, either to relieve Dhawan or to grant him further extension, has been issued as of yet, confirmed a top UT officer.

Dhawan, who recently hogged the limelight after the Land Acquisition Officer issued a notice to his father for alleged violation of rules, has been handling two major national pilot projects – conclusive land titling system (CLTS) and computeristaion of land records— which are still in their initial stages.

“Solanki has issued a categorical direction to relieve Dhawan with immediate effect as no further extension has been granted to him even 10 days after the expiry of his extended term,” a senior officer privy to the development told Chandigarh Tribune.

However, even 24 hours after this verbal direction from the Administrator, no formal order was issued till this evening, confirmed a top UT functionary.

On the other hand, reliable sources said the Union Department of Land Resources had been pressing hard for the continuation of Dhawan on his present post for at least another couple of months to enable him to take both the national pilot projects to their logical conclusion.

“We are taking up the issue of his further extension with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and are hopeful that he may get another extension to avoid any damage to the national pilot projects being handled by him,” a senior officer in the Union Department of Land Reforms said.

Meanwhile, uncertainty prevailed over the fate of Dhawan, who carried out his office work as usual on Wednesday.

What is the project

Under the CLTS, the Estate Office and subsequently other record-keeping offices will issue online certificate of property title that will detail ownership rights right down to the extent of share percentage. With this conclusive-titling regime, civil disputes in various courts are likely to reduce drastically and the ownership will be guaranteed by the state.

The certificate will display a unique ‘land parcel ID’ apart from mandatory details like file number, site address, name of owner, associated Aadhaar number and the respective share percentage. It will also depict the key map of the locality where the property lies, along with a zoomed view of the property and the adjacent properties. The certificate has the provision to show mortgage-related information.

The UT Department of Information Technology, Society for Promotion of IT in Chandigarh (SPIC) and the Estate Office in association with Infosys, Chandigarh, has been jointly working on this national project in Chandigarh.