Records ‘tampered’, 17 booked

Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 11

The Vigilance Bureau today registered a case against 17 persons, including two employees of the Land Consolidation Department, for allegedly tampering with the land records of Amritpur Kalan, Kairwali and Amritpur Khurd villages in the district.

Among the accused are retired assistant chakbandi officer Ram Pal, assistant chakbandi officer Dalbir Singh and patwari Jugal. No one has been arrested.

“The accused have been booked under Sections 166, 167, 218, 409, 420, 466, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC, and the Prevention of Corruption Act for tampering with the record and made revenue entries in the name of some other persons,” he added.

Residents of Amritpur Kalan, Kairwali and Amritpur Khurd villages claimed that in April 1995, some officials of the department had made false revenue entries in the record after land consolidation (chakbandi) and transferred their land in the name of some other persons.

They had, on November 28, 2015, approached Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who had directed the authorities concerned to investigate the matter. In June 2017, then Divisional Commissioner Chander Parkash had ordered the authorities to correct the anomalies.

On the report of then Karnal DC, the Director General, Consolidation of Land Holdings, had transferred three employees for allegedly not submitting an accurate report to the government in November 2017.