Vigilance to probe revenue officials for alleged land status change to claim higher NHAI compensation

Coming down heavily on the alleged manipulation of land record to claim inflated compensation in an NHAI acquisition case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a Vigilance probe into the role of revenue officials “right from the patwari to the SDM concerned”.

The order by Justice Harkesh Manuja came in a case where entries in the revenue records pertaining to the acquired land petitioners were allegedly changed in an illegal manner from ‘agriculture’ to ‘non-agriculture’ after issuance of notifications to fetch higher compensation Manawala village in Amritsar district.

“Since the matter involves public money, the same needs thorough probe, especially relating to the role and conduct of the revenue officials right from the patwari to the SDM concerned by the Vigilance Department of Government of Punjab and a report in this regard be produced before this court on or before the next date of hearing. This direction is required in the given facts as the list of such improper determination is getting longer day by day,” Justice Manuja observed.

The bench observed that the petitioner-landowners had moved the court seeking release of compensation for the land acquired. The notification under Section 3A of the National Highways Authority of India Act was issued on November 21, 2020, followed by a Section 3D notification on May 10, 2021, and an award on August 6, 2021.

Initially, the land was valued as “gair mumkin” or non-cultivable. But a subsequent complaint by a whistle-blower led to the conclusion that the land’s status in revenue records had been “illegally changed” from agricultural to non-agricultural after the issuance of the acquisition notifications — allegedly to secure higher compensation.

Justice Manuja asserted the Deputy Commissioner – in his capacity as the collector of the district and the administrative head – acted in bona fide discharge of his official duties by conducting an inquiry and passed a detailed order. “It was found that the entries were in fact changed from ‘agriculture’ to ‘non-agriculture, gair mumkin godown’, after the issuance of notifications in a mischievous manner.”

Justice Manuja added “the change of revenue entries” manipulation was brought to the Project Director’s notice by the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) through a letter dated February 8, 2023. But the project implementation unit refused to intervene, citing lack of jurisdiction.

Terming this inaction “lamentable,” Justice Manuja remarked the Project Director – being the custodian of public money – was required to at least examine the issue “by making some sincere efforts by scrutinising the revenue record so as to arrive at a just conclusion. However, lamentably, he kept a blind eye to it”.

Justice Manuja added that the petitioners could produce any evidence such as electricity bills, to show existence of godowns on the land. The State counsel, too, could not produce an order by the competent authority or entry by the patwari concerned regarding the change of revenue entries from ‘agriculture’ to ‘non agriculture/gair mumkin godown’.