Village sarpanch suspended over misuse of grant

Deputy Commissioner Parth Gupta has suspended the sarpanch of Bapoli village, Rohit Sharma, under Section 51(1) of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act. The action was taken following a complaint filed by Kuldeep Malik, a resident of Bapoli.

According to the complaint, Sharan Kumar, also a resident of the village, allegedly received a government grant of Rs 1.38 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) for the construction of a house. However, he neither built the house nor used the grant for its intended purpose.

“The beneficiary had even prepared the map for the proposed house, but no construction ever took place on the said land,” Kuldeep Malik alleged.

The complainant further claimed that Sharan Kumar was not eligible for the housing grant in the first place. He alleged that the gram sachiv (village secretary), sarpanch, and area patwari colluded to submit a false survey report to ensure that the grant was approved, thereby providing “undue benefit” to the beneficiary.

Based on the preliminary inquiry, the Deputy Commissioner ordered the suspension of the sarpanch pending further investigation.