Crackdown on revenue officials: Patwari suspended, VB probe ordered against ex-tehsildar

In a crackdown on officials of the Revenue Department, the district administration has suspended a patwari for allegedly transferring the ownership of the government village land to a private person and recommended a Vigilance Bureau (VB) probe into the alleged misdeeds and corruption by a retired tehsildar.

The action comes quick on the heels of the suspension of a local tehsildar, Ranjit Singh, on the charge of ‘extremely serious lapse’.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jitendra Jorwal has ordered the suspension with immediate effect of the revenue patwari, Sukhwinder Singh Sodhi, posted in Jagraon, on the charge of illegally transferring the ownership of 1.5-acre government village land in the name of a private person.

The suspension order was issued on the recommendation of an inquiry report submitted by SDM (West) Poonampreet Kaur, who was entrusted with a probe into the complaint against the patwari.

The complaint pertained to Kuliewal village in the Ludhiana (West) tehsil where the mutation (ownership title) of almost 1.5-acre government land worth crores of rupees was transferred to a private person while referring to a local court’s order, which actually nowhere issued any such direction. “In this way, the patwari has done gross negligence in his duty,” the SDM (West) concluded while recommending action against him.

Acting swiftly, the DC ordered immediate suspension of the patwari and shifted his headquarters to Khanna for marking daily attendance during the suspension period.

In a separate order, the DC ordered an inquiry by the VB into a complaint of corruption against a retired tehsildar, Kanwar Narinder Singh.

A resident of Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Hirdeypal Singh, had complained to the DC against Kanwar and had alleged that when he was posted as a tehsildar in Ludhiana (Central), he had paid him Rs 22.5 lakh bribe.

The complaint was also marked for a preliminary inquiry to SDM (West) Poonampreet Kaur, who recommended a VB probe into the matter.

“The matter was also discussed at the government level and it was decided at the level of the competent authority that the complaint should be marked to the VB for further probe,” the DC said.

Accordingly, Jorwal wrote to the VB SSP in Ludhiana, asking him to conduct a probe into the matter while forwarding him the copy of the complaint, preliminary inquiry report and all other relevant documents.

The Additional Chief Secretary (ACS)-cum-Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR), Anurag Verma, had on Monday raided the Ludhiana East tehsil office here, days after suspending a local tehsildar, Ranjit Singh.

On his surprise visit, Verma had checked the working at the tehsil office, met visitors and ordered the district administration to ensure smooth, transparent, responsive, and accountable public delivery services at all public offices.

Verma had on January 31 ordered suspension with immediate effect of tehsildar Ranjit and had chargesheeted him for major punishment under Rule 8 of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970.

Besides inspecting the delivery of services, including registration of property deeds, the ACS-cum-FCR also checked the functioning of CCTV cameras installed at the tehsil office, which were found non-functional last week. He had ordered all CCTVs to be made functional by January 31.

Flanked by the DC, Verma also interacted with the public present at the tehsil office for various chores and took feedback on the delivery of services, behaviour of staff and facilities available.

“Several issues cropped up during the visit and the interaction, which were flagged for immediate resolution,” Verma had told The Tribune.

He said the visit was aimed at taking a surprise view of the functioning of tehsil offices, which register the maximum public footfall and ensure accountable, responsive and transparent public delivery services as mandated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The ACS-cum-FCR had suspended tehsildar Ranjit for registering property deeds of Jagraon while sitting at the Ludhiana East tehsil office, which he had termed as “extremely serious lapse”.