Encroachment of huge land by politicians, influential officials
Not even one recommendation of enquiry panel taken seriously
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 20: The much-needed action against the influential encroachers of huge chunk of State and Kahcharai land in Humhama area of Budgam district in Kashmir valley is awaited during the past eight months as some officers of the Revenue Department are misleading the Governor’s Administration on the findings of the enquiry panel.
Shockingly, not even one recommendation of the committee has been taken seriously by those at the helm of affairs in the Revenue Department thereby rendering the long drawn exercise as infructuous.
The Government vide Order No. 105(Rev) dated August 11, 2016 constituted a committee comprising of KAS officers to enquire into the alleged encroachment of Kahcharai and State land at Humhama in Budgam district and Soiteng in Srinagar district.
The terms of reference of the committee were demarcation of State and Kahcharai land; identification of the encroachers along with the details of the land encroached upon; position of records and entries made vis-à-vis these encroachments; officers and officials of the Revenue Department responsible for facilitating the encroachments; identification of persons in whose favour Kahcharai land was given in exchange of the revenue estates along with quantum of land and whether such exchanges were made in accordance with the land laws.
After over two years long hectic exercise, the committee finally submitted its report to the Revenue Department in the month of November last year mentioning that several senior civil, police and other officers along with politicians including ex-Ministers and legislators have encroached upon the Kahcharai/State land on one or the other pretext.
It was also mentioned in the report that majority of the influential encroachers have kept the property in the name of their spouses and relatives with the sole objective of preventing their names from being directly linked with this illegal act.
However, during the past eight months neither the Revenue Department has accepted the findings of the committee nor rejected the same with plausible reasons, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “certain officers in this department are misleading the Governor’s Administration on the findings of the committee just to help the influential encroachers”.
“They have conveyed to the top brass in the administration that recommendations of the enquiry panel are general in nature as such no immediate action can be taken on the same”, sources further said while disclosing that apprehensions about inaction on the part of Revenue Department authorities were expressed by the enquiry committee in its report keeping in view the inept handling of other big scams by this department.
About a dozen similar enquiry reports were submitted in the past but no action was taken on them. Hopefully some concrete action will be taken in this case in the larger interest of the State otherwise the report will be another addition to the files in office records and nothing more, the committee had mentioned in the concluding pargraph of the report.
“The administration is sending a wrong message to the encroachers of land in other parts of the State by not initiating action on the findings of the enquiry panel constituted by none else then the Government”, sources said.
Disclosing that even other recommendations of the enquiry committee have not been taken seriously so far by the Revenue Department, sources said that the committee had suggested that there should be a mechanism that at the time of transfer the Patwari hands over the stock register of the land bank along with certificate that no encroachment has been made in his area of responsibility.
Similarly, the successor has to ensure that he has verified each and every parcel of State, Shamlat and Kahcharai land before taking over the charge of Patwar Halqa. The committee had also recommended withdrawal of Government Order No.155-Rev/NG dated May 23, 2008 for being ultra-virus and in contravention of the revenue laws.
“Those bureaucrats and police officers who have encroached upon the land need to be proceeded against by the Government and the Revenue officials who have attested the mutations in illegal manner are required to be identified for taking departmental action”, the committee said.
“The private persons are required to be ejected forthwith or private land commensurate to the encroached area is required to be acquired at their cost in each village by concerned Collectors by imposing at least 20% additional penalty”, the committee had further mentioned in the report.
“There should be an amendment in Section 133 of the J&K Land Revenue Act to empower the Assistant Collector 1st Class and 2nd Class both or any other officer senior to them to order arrest and detention of the encroachers or their agents for securing the State and Kahcharai land”, the report further read.
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