Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 29: Adjudic-ating upon a complaint filed by one Fida Hussain of Manjakote, district Rajouri against some inhabitants of village Kotli Kalaban of Rajouri and the officials of Revenue and Forest Departments for illegally encroaching upon forest land, the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) today directed Vigilance Organization to register a formal case against the public servants and the beneficiaries involved in the fraud, under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Earlier, taking cognizance of the complaint, the Commission sought a report from Deputy Commissioner Rajouri to know the factual position of the case. The complainant in a written complaint alleged that some persons of village Kotli have illegally occupied 45 kanal of forest land with active support and connivance of the officials of Forest and Revenue Departments and after cutting trees have started cultivation on it. He further alleged that the occupants have fraudulently managed to transfer the land in their names by manipulating the Revenue records and subsequently got it mutate/allotted with the support of the officials of Revenue department under LB/6 claiming that the land was in their possession since 1957 while, in fact, the land in question has been encroached upon recently.
The report, in the matter, submitted by the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri prima facie established that forest land has been encroached upon and mutated/allotted illegally by manipulating the Revenue records. The report further revealed that the entries of mutation No 497(LB-6/C and 500 (S-432) and entries in the Khasra Girdawari have been made illegally by then Patwaris of Halqa Ghambir Mughlan.
The Commission also directed the Registry to forward the copies of the report, along with other relevant documents, pertaining to the case, to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) for appropriate action in terms of powers conferred upon him under Sec (15) of Land Revenue Act so that the land illegally transferred is restored to Forest Department.
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