SSP told to conduct probe, register FIR against suspects

Patiala, March 1

The office of the Deputy Commissioner has written to the Senior Superintendent of Police to investigate and register a case against persons allegedly involved in illegal registration of government common land in private names in 1992. The office has also directed the Tehsildar office to halt any process of transferring its ownership as the matter was pending in court.

Illegal registration of government common land

The directions have been issued years after a city resident had complained regarding the wrongful mutation of the land to the DC in June 2019.

Varun Malhotra, a city resident, had written to the district administration and the Department of Local Government in regard to the wrongful mutation of the said land, adjoining NH7 and NH44 in Rajpura. Malhotra said, “I first raised the matter with the district administration. None of the officials looked into the issue. I had to go from pillar to post to get my complaints registered. I even collected documents regarding the matter, including the land records of 1962 and 1982, on my own.”

He said he lodged a complained with the directorate, Department of Local Government, which finally directed the DC to carry out an investigation in August 2021. The ADC office later submitted a report on the matter in August 2022.

Malhotra said, “On February 16, I met Local Bodies Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar, who assured me an immediate action in the matter. The next day, the DC office ordered registration of an FIR.”

ADC (General) Gurpreet Singh Thind said the matter revolved around mutation of a common village land. “In 1992, some panchayat members of Rajpura village had formed a committee to oversee the land’s maintenance. They later issued a power of attorney to seven persons, who then sold the land to private persons in 1992. The mutation was challenged in the court of the SDM, but was finally carried out. In 2016, the land came under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Committee, which laid claim to it in 2019. Prompted by a complaint, we prepared a report and submitted to the financial commissioner revenue,” he said.

He added that the panchayat members did not have any right to issue power of attorney while the then SDM should also have looked into the documents.

The ADC said on the basis of the report, the DC office has sought the SSP office to investigate the matter and register an FIR against those responsible for wrongful mutation of the government land. The office has also directed the Tehsildar to halt any process of transferring its ownership.