Zirakpur naib tehsildar suspended over irregularities

Zirakpur, May 10

The Punjab Government today suspended naib tehsildar Harminder Singh posted at Zirakpur sub-tehsil over irregularities in the work of registration.

The order, issued by Anurag Aggarwal, Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner, Treasury, stated that the naib tehsildar was suspended under Rule 4 of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, with immediate effect. The suspended official would be given subsistence allowance as per the Rule 7.2 of the Punjab Civil Services Volume 1 Part 1. During the period of suspension, the official will report at the District Administrative Complex in Mohali.

The order did not specify the irregularities. However, the issue of registries of unauthorised colonies in Zirakpur has been under the scanner for the past sometime.

On August 10 last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had restrained the registries of unauthorised colonies in the state. After this, former Executive Officer of Zirakpur Municipal Council Sandeep Tewari, in a letter issued to the naib tehsildar, Zirakpur, on June 22 directed to stop registration of around 23 colonies in different villages.

Past incidents

• On November 2, 2020, naib tehsildar Varinderpal Singh Dhoot, then posted in Zirakpur, and five others were arrested in the alleged wrong mutation of 1,295 acres of shamlat land at Seonk village in Mohali district. A case was registered under Sections 409, 420, 465, 467, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 7 and 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, on the basis of a Vigilance Bureau inquiry.
• On May 20, 2020, Zirakpur Municipal Council executive officer Manvir Singh Gill was suspended for misusing his powers to issue completion certificates to eight major residential-cum-commercial projects in February.