Adil Lateef
Srinagar, June 27: Over 1.5 lakh kanals of Evacuee Property Department land is under illegal occupation and the department has allotted properties in an arbitrary manner on pick and choose basis and adopted irregular leasing out on the directions of higher authorities resulting in huge losses to State exchequer.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India report, that was tabled in the both Houses of the State Legislature today, reveals that the Evacuee Property Department has not followed the rules and has not adopted transparent and uniform system for leasing out of the evacuee property.
The Section 9 (2) (l) of the Act empowers the Custodian to allot or transfer any evacuee property with the previous approval of the Custodian General. Under the Act the allotment or transfer of any such property is required to be made in a transparent manner.
The Audit noticed that the Department had not followed any uniform system of allotment of residential properties like as draw of lots, first come first serve or through auction notice. “Instead, the properties had been allotted in an arbitrary manner on pick and choose basis,” the CAG report said.
The Custodian in his response to the CAG states that the properties were allotted on the instructions of the higher authorities.
According to CAG report, during the period 2010-15 a total of 291 kanals of land and 112 residential (67)/ commercial (36)/ residential-cum-commercial (9) evacuee properties were leased out by the EP Department.
Referring to a case of Sehar Iqbal, the CAG said: “Evacuee Property (Flat No. 4-B) located at Sanat Nagar, Srinagar after dehiring (December 2010) from the Estates Department was allotted (December 2010) by the Custodian EP Kashmir in favour of Sehar Iqbal for a period of one year on monthly rent of Rs 3000/- per month.”
“The flat was allotted arbitrarily without following the due auction process. As per guidelines (June 2010) of the Department, the allottee was required to pay 70 per cent of the potential value of the property as premium,” the CAG said.
“However, the property was allotted on rent basis without assessing the potential value of the property. Audit noticed that allotment of flat beyond one year in favour of allottee was not renewed”, reads the report.
The report says that over 1,50,806 kanals of evacuee land out of total 14,70,434 kanals of land, was under illegal occupation in Jammu and Kashmir. “The Deputy Custodian Central stated (June 2015) that major portion of land under illegal occupation was locked in litigation and that field staff had been directed to get remaining land retrieved from illegal occupants,” the CAG said.
The Audit said that there was accumulation of huge arrears of Rs 120.40 crore on account of outstanding premium and rent against 491 lessees/ allottees at the close of March 2015.
The CAG report reads that the administrative expenditure incurred by the Custodian EP Kashmir was within the permissible limits whereas the administrative expenditure of Rs 18.04 crore was incurred by the Custodian EP Jammu during 2010-11 to 2013-14 against admissible expenditure of Rs 10.44 crore. “This resulted in incurring of excess administrative expenditure of Rs 7.60 crore,” the CAG report said.
The Department had neither established Evacuee Property Fund nor formulated any financial investment plan. “Audit observed that the Department neither established Evacuee Property Fund nor formulated any financial investment plan during the period 2010-15 in spite of the fact that Rs 100 crore were invested in FDRs as of March 2015 by the Custodian Jammu (Rs 45 crore) and Custodian Kashmir (Rs 55 crore),” said the CAG.
The CAG said an amount of Rs 117.09 crore (Jammu: Rs 112.92 crore; Kashmir: Rs 4.17 crore) was outstanding as rent against 49 Government offices. “No action was taken by the department to recover huge arrears of rent. The position of rent outstanding as of March 31, 2015 against private individuals was not available with the Department, as the rent ledgers were not updated, in absence of which rent outstanding against individuals could not be ascertained,” added the CAG.
As per CAG, the Custodians spent Rs 25.21 lakh (Jammu: Rs 14.71 lakh; Kashmir: Rs 10.50 lakh) for purchasing two vehicles (January and June 2013). “Audit found that the expenditure was not authorized by the Government and the vehicles after their purchase remained attached with the Administrative Department,” said the CAG.
The Audit reads that this indicated that the vehicles were purchased in absence of any requirement. “After the matter was pointed out, the Administrative Department accorded (March 2015) post facto sanction for authorization of expenses incurred on purchase of vehicles,” the CAG said in its report.
Follow our WhatsApp channel