Rs123.36-cr given to 101 beneficiaries in a day!

It has come to the fore that Naib Tehsildar Jaskaran Singh, one of the officials involved in the Rs 140-crore Mohali guava orchard scam, disbursed Rs 123.36 crore compensation to 101 beneficiaries, including wives of two senior IAS officers.

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From initiating the process, to getting approval and releasing the money to beneficiaries, the revenue official did all in a single day.

On Thursday, Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (ACS)-cum-Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR) Anurag Verma had ordered the prosecution sanction of Jaskaran, paving the way for his trial.

The guava orchards, which never existed, were part of 1,680 acres of land acquired for a new township Aerotropolis by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in 2022.

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

Realising the quantum of relief involved and high-ranking beneficiaries, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also initiated separate inquiry in the scam.

The Vigilance probe has highlighted the undue haste shown by Jaskaran in releasing the wrongful compensation to the beneficiaries.

“Undue haste was observed in the process for obtaining approval for release of compensation amount. The noting was initiated by the patwari on February 2, 2022. On the same day, this noting was dealt by the accused Jaskaran, who forwarded his consent to the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC). On February 2 itself, the LAC also accorded his approval,” reveals the probe report.

If this was not enough, the noting was down-marked to Jaskaran and he sent it to the patwari, who again marked it to the former with the payment forms on the same day. Thus, Jaskaran dealt with the noting thrice on the same day and marked it to GMADA Additional Chief Administrator (Finance and Accounts) for further proceedings after obtaining approval of the LAC.

“The entire process of release of the compensation amount had materialised in a single day, resulting in the release of wrongful compensation to the co-accused beneficiaries,” the investigation revealed.

“Had Jaskaran relied upon the khasra girdawari of the village, forgery/ tampering with the record would have clearly revealed the modus-operandi to show the ante-dated plantation of guava trees,” the investigation officers noted.

The khasra girdawari from 2016-17 to 2020-21 show that there were no guava orchards present on the land and the co-accused beneficiaries in connivance with Patwari Bachittar Singh had fabricated new khasra girdawari to substantiate their claim.