Punjab gives nod to try revenue officer in Rs 140-cr guava scam

The Punjab Government on Thursday granted sanction to prosecute a revenue officer in the Rs 140-crore Mohali guava orchard scam involving several senior bureaucrats and high-profile people.

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Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Anurag Verma ordered the prosecution of Naib Tehsildar Jaskaran Singh, paving the way for his trial in the court.

Jaskaran was allegedly instrumental in the disbursement of over Rs 123 crore compensation to 101 beneficiaries, including the wives of two senior IAS officers, for “guava orchards” on the land acquired for a new township close to the Chandigarh airport in Mohali in 2022.

Taking cognisance of complaints that no such guava orchards existed on the ground, the Vigilance Bureau had registered a case of corruption, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy in May 2023.

Confirming the development, Verma told The Tribune that action was taken following the government’s “zero tolerance against corruption” policy.

This is the third prosecution sanction in the case in which seven government employees and 16 private persons have already been arrested even as investigation is underway. In January, sanction was granted to prosecute Horticulture Development Officers Jaspreet Singh Sidhu and Vaishali.

The four-page prosecution order said Jaskaran, as Naib Tehsildar in the office of the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC), Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), was responsible for conducting surveys, verifying land records, ensuring proper documentation and liaising with stakeholders during the acquisition proceedings.

“Before his joining, Rs 16.8 crore compensation for fruit-bearing trees was released to only right beneficiaries and the remaining payments of Rs 123.36 crore were released to the remaining 101 beneficiaries during his stint without visiting and inspecting any site and vehemently ignoring the specific conditions imposed by the GMADA Chief Administrator on June 1, 2021,” the order stated.

The GMADA Chief Administrator had categorically instructed to check revenue records to ascertain the age and fruit-bearing capacity of the guava plants for which compensation was sought. Being a revenue officer, Jaskaran was the expert person to analyse the record in the LAC office.

Verma observed that Jaskaran was “well aware of the activities of the land mafia headed by main accused Bhupinder Singh in connivance with other co-accused officials to get compensation released in accordance with tailor-made assessment reports of the Horticulture Department and the conditions imposed by the GMADA CA before release of such payments”.

Even as GMADA had stopped all payments pertaining to compensation for fruit-bearing trees in July 2021, the LAC office initiated a noting in November 2021 seeking approval from the GMADA CA for release of such payments. Surprisingly, this note was not routed through the GMADA ACA and was directly dealt by the GMADA CA on the same day to accord his approval.

“Accused Jaskaran Singh, Land Acquisition Collector Jagdish Singh Johal and patwaris Surinderpal and Suinderpal were found to have deliberately ignored the instructions of the GMADA CA before verifying payment forms of 101 beneficiaries, resulting in release of over Rs 123 crore as compensation,” the order read.

Verma said undue haste was observed in the process for obtaining approval and release of the compensation amount, which was done on the same day February 8, 2022.