*Fards issued during last two years cancelled
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 5: As the preliminary inquiry reveals criminal conspiracy between the subordinate revenue officials and certain private persons/land owners behind grabbing and damaging the State land in village Pargalta near Railway Station Bajalta, the Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Ajeet Kumar Sahu has attached the concerned Patwari and seized entire record of Patwar Halqa Bainbajalta. Moreover, all the fards issued in Khasra No.219 during the last two years have been cancelled and a committee has been constituted to enquire into the matter from all aspects and fix responsibilities for necessary action against all the erring officials.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Khasra No. 219 of village Pargalta having area of 1187 kanals and 14 marlas contains 700 kanal and 3 marlas of private land and 487 kanals and 11 marlas of State land. During the preliminary inquiry into the encroachment attempt and damage of Government land, it has come to the fore that private land has been demarcated arbitrarily showing the patches of private land scattered on the whole Khasra No.219 thereby making available State land useless and with the purpose to encroach upon State land in the garb of private land.
“The act of revenue officers providing the demarcation and Tatima in arbitrarily scattered manner seems to be a deliberate attempt to disturb the State land”, sources said quoting the findings of preliminary inquiry, adding “it has also come to the fore that nature of the land has been changed without taking approval of the competent authority and in violation of the Agrarian Reforms Act as well as other laws”.
Stating that act of persons encroaching and damaging State land was mischief under Section 3 of the J&K Public Property (Prevention and Damage) Act, 1986, sources said, “during preliminary inquiry it also appeared that criminal conspiracy has been hatched between the subordinate revenue officials and certain private persons/land owners for grabbing and damaging the State land”, adding “the revenue officers also failed to report the encroachment as well as damage until it was personally visited by the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue)”.
“Moreover, it has also been noticed that despite instructions from the Deputy Commissioner’s office for retrieval of available State land no report has been received from concerned Patwari, Girdawar and Naib Tehsildar regarding availability of State land in this area and its retrieval”, sources said.
In view of these findings, Deputy Commissioner Jammu has attached Nek Mohd, Patwari Halqa Bainbajalta with the Regional Director, Survey and Land Records (Ex-officio Settlement Officer) Jammu till completion of enquiry in the matter, sources disclosed, adding the Patwari has also been directed to deposit all the record with the office of the Deputy Commissioner.
“All the fards issued in Khasra No.219 during last two years have been cancelled. Even directions have been issued for maintenance of status quo in this Khasra No. and no sale and purchase as well as conversion or construction will be allowed without prior permission of the Deputy Commissioner”, sources said, adding “Tehsildar Jammu will also register and attest mutations whichever is applicable for conversion of land or other violations of Big Landed Abolition Act, Agrarian Reforms Act or any other act”.
Besides lodging formal complaint with the police for registration of FIR under J&K Public Property (Prevention and Damage) Act, 1986, the Deputy Commissioner Jammu has also constituted a committee comprising Assistant Commissioner (Nazool) Jammu and Tehsildar Jammu to enquire into the matter especially from the points and observations raised during the preliminary inquiry as well as violation of laws.
The committee has been directed by the Deputy Commissioner to submit report along with relevant revenue record for taking further action within a week’s time. The committee will specifically examine the violation of rules/laws from various angles— revenue, criminal and service rules/conduct rules separately by mentioning the clauses. Moreover, it will fix the responsibilities of various revenue officials involved so that suitable disciplinary action is taken against them, sources said.
The Committee will also examine the applicability of Big Landed Abolition Act and Agrarian Reforms Act and see the scale of land in the ownership of the private persons. It will also demarcate the whole land and rationalize the private land with existing Abadi area and segregate the State land for its better use. The Committee will also propose the land for Regional Science Centre and Planetarium, Science and Painting Museums for which indents are pending.
While carrying out demarcation of the whole land, the committee will display board depicting order of the status quo and warning the people not to encroach upon or damage the land, sources said.
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