Departmental action against all erring Revenue officials suggested
Enquiry panel recommends stringent action in shortest possible time
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 25: Several bureaucrats, senior police officers, ex-Ministers and legislators have encroached huge chunk of Kahcharai and State land in Budgam district’s Humhama area, which is a prime location near airport, by throwing to winds provisions of land laws that too in connivance with the field functionaries of the Revenue Department.
This has been revealed by a committee of officers with numerous recommendations to the Revenue Department including initiation of stringent action against all the encroachers in the shortest possible time so as to achieve the objective behind ordering of enquiry over two years back.
The Government vide Order No. 105(Rev) dated August 11, 2016 constituted a committee headed by KAS officer R K Shavan and comprising of two more KAS officers namely Malik Suhail Ahmad and Nasir Ahmad Wani and another officer Imran Ahmad Bhat to enquire into the alleged encroachment of Kahcharai and State land at village Humhama in Budgam district and Soiteng tehsil 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 has finally submitted its report to the Revenue Department mentioning that several senior civil, police and other officers along with politicians including ex-Ministers and legislators are among the encroachers of Kahcharai and State land in Humhama and Soiteng.
“From the whole exercise it emerges that several bureaucrats, police officers and politicians have encroached the Kahcharai/State land on one or the other pretext”, said the report, the copy of which has been managed by EXCELSIOR from the Revenue Department in the Civil Secretariat.
Mentioning the quantum of encroachments Khasra Number wise, the report said, “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”.
“They project the illegal constructions as that of Government for the security bunkers and sheds. However, neither the type designs of these structures resemble with any Government construction nor the security agencies have sought any permission from the Government to construct such structures substantiating these claims”, the report further said, adding “there is no permission from Srinagar Municipal Corporation under whose jurisdiction the area falls”.
The committee has recommended that the Government must pass explicit and timely directions to the Deputy Commissioner concerned to evict all the encroachers by adopting due procedure of law within a period of three months.
“The encroachers should be asked by the District Collector concerned to vacate the identified structures at their own in first instance and in case the encroachers fail to vacate the premises, Government should identify private land in the same village commensurate to the encroached area and recover the actual cost of acquisition from the encroachers along with additional penalty of at least 20% over and above so that other people are discouraged from making any sort of encroachment in future”, the report said.
The committee has 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, which state that no Kahcharai land can be allowed to be regularized in individual manner unless the State makes the uniform policy for all the areas. “The withdrawal of this Government order is imperative to discourage further illegal encroachments”, the report said.
“Those bureaucrats and police officers who have encroached 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, adding “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 has further recommended 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 report said.
Putting a big question mark on the functioning of the Revenue Department, the committee said that Supreme Court judgment in case titled Jaipal Singh Versus State of Punjab has not been implemented in the State in real sense. The Apex Court, in this case, had passed directions to all the States to evict the encroachers from State, Shamlat and community land in a time bound manner.
“Wherever some encroachments have been removed by the Revenue officials, the same has been done in compliance to the directions of the State High Court passed in various Public Interest Litigations (PILs)”, the report said, adding “there are instances wherein demarcations have been restricted to papers only without physically evicting the encroachers and defining the limit boundaries of the Khasra numbers by fixing permanent boundary pillars and this has led to the encroachments”.
The report further said, “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”.
Expressing concern over lack of timely police assistance at the time of removal of encroachments, the committee has recommended that till the demarcation and eviction over Kahcharai and State land is completed in the entire State the Government should explore the possibility of providing dedicated police component for protection of State and Kahcharai land only.
“Since the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Project (DILRMP) is already under implementation, a complete data of Kahcharai and State land is required to be maintained village wise indicating the total quantum of land allotted, transferred and acquired in favour of allottees, which has not been updated since long”, the committee said.
“Now, it is to be seen whether the Revenue Department acts on the findings and recommendations of the committee or treats this report as trash by succumbing to the pressure from the influential encroachers”, sources remarked.
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