Moga land scam: 1964 revenue record found, confirms double compensation

In a major development in Moga’s ongoing land acquisition controversy that had led to the suspension of Moga ADC last week, the missing 1964 revenue record concerning the land acquired by the Public Works Department (PWD) has been recovered — nearly two months after an FIR was registered over its disappearance on the complaint of Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner.

The recovery of this key document has blown the lid off what investigators describe as a “Pandora’s box” of irregularities, confirming that several individuals had fraudulently claimed and received double compensation for the land the government had already acquired more than six decades ago, revealed as senior functionary in Moga. This double compensation allegation had led to the suspension of Moga ADC Charumita.

The state government had placed Charumita under suspension on November 6 amidst allegations of irregularities amounting to Rs 3.7 crore in land acquisition compensation. Charumita denied these allegations, saying she has nothing to do with the award of compensation.

The controversy traces back to a High Court directive dated July 15 in a writ petition which sought production of the original 1964 acquisition record.

When the document could not be located, DC Ferozepur had lodged a complaint, leading to the registration of FIR on September 13 at Cantonment police station, Ferozepur. In 1964, Moga was part of Ferozepur district.

The recovered record pertains to land along the Dharamkot–Shahkot stretch of National Highway-703 in Moga which had originally been acquired by the PWD (B&R) Division, Ferozepur, in 1964 for road construction. Despite continuous government possession and use for over five decades, the land was inexplicably “re-acquired” by PWD in 2014 during a highway-widening project.

In 2019, compensation of Rs 3.7 crore was allegedly allotted to a private claimant treating the land as newly acquired, without verifying the 1964 records. Sources revealed that the failure to mutate the acquired land in the name of the PWD in revenue records after the initial acquisition in 1964 had enabled private claimants to fraudulently obtain a second round of compensation.

The irregularities did not end there. Investigations have also uncovered that a change of land use (CLU) for commercial purposes was granted in 2022, despite the land being part of an existing public road. Between 2021 and 2025, contradictory demarcation reports and even a partition mutation were recorded, further deepening the procedural lapses.

The recovery of the missing 1964 record — now a key piece of evidence — is expected to accelerate the Vigilance Bureau’s investigation, which may soon reveal the full extent of administrative lapses and possible collusion behind the multi-crore land scam.