The Tribunal
headed by retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Kuldeep Singh recently
submitted its interim report on alleged land grab cases on the
periphery of Chandigarh in Punjab.
The report has
been submitted on the basis of investigations or enquiries conducted
in seven villages out of a total of 336 villages. The Tribunal had
been constituted on the orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court in
May last year. The case started with a petition filed by a Nayagaon
resident, Kuldeep Singh, who had alleged security threat to him by a
senior Punjab police cop, trying to grab his land. Kuldeep Singh had
alleged that several influential persons had started forcing people
to sell their land. Later, Kuldeep Singh had informed the bench that
he was not willing to continue with the case. However, the bench
decided to continue with it, taking a cognizance of seriousness of
the allegations.
Earlier, the bench
had directed Punjab ADGP, Chander Shekhar to conduct the
investigation. Shekhar pointed out several irregularities in
ownership of land by some influential persons. After his retirement,
IGP, C S R Reddy took over the investigation and submitted report
about the ownership of land by 60 influential persons. Then high
court formed the Tribunal to look into possible land grabbing.
Although, the
concerned advocates or persons so far remain silent on the report
some people say that the Tribunal had not taken the response of the
people, it indicted. H.C. Arora, an advocate practising in the Punjab
and Haryana High Court, pointed out that it is a principle of natural
justice that an accused person is given the opportunity to speak in
his own defence.
In its interim
report, the Tribunal has held that huge chunk of land on the
Chandigarh periphery in Punjab had either been grabbed already or was
being grabbed. The report points out the systematic way, in which
ownership of thousands of acres, mainly shamlat or government land,
had been first changed and then transferred to other people. The
report states that in several cases, Revenue Department officials
connived in the illegalities. The Tribunal also states that the
Director or Additional Director of Consolidation, in collusion with
Revenue Department officials, passed orders, which were illegal. He
is accused of conspiring to commit fraud.
The report points
out that hill or riverine land, which could not be shared, was not
only shared by the landowners but also sold, without demarcation or
proper division.
The report
suggests that records were altered or orders were passed right from
1981 to facilitate fraud. Giving one such example, the report stated
that, on the orders of the Additional Director of Consolidation of
Holdings, passed on January 16, 1986, a mutation in village Kansal
was passed on November 25, 1999 for change of ownership and various
subsequent sale deeds were illegal and without jurisdiction. Riverine
land, whose ownership vests with the panchayat and which no right
holder can cultivate, was changed in the records and treated as jumla
mushtarka malkaan (common land where landowners are shareholders).
Based on the
orders, the mutation was sanctioned in Revenue records on November
25, 1999, showing the right holders as owners of respective shares.
Subsequently the landowners sold their land. Even before the
mutation, several influential persons obtained General Power of
Attorney for lands in 1998. Such persons included Sonam Kumar; son of
then Punjab Governor Lt General (retired) B.K.N. Chhibber, for land
measuring 44 kanal, one Harjinder Singh held power of attorney for
land measuring 56 kanals while Darshan Kumar held GPA for land
measuring about 30 kanals.
Later, in 1998 or
early 1999, shares for land measuring about 96 kanals were purchased
by Harjinder Singh, Sumedh Singh Saini, S.S. Brar and J.S, Brar.
According to report, through an order on April 10, 2003, six persons
got separate khasra girdawaris. But in the entries, the name of
Darshan Kumar and Soman Kumar’s names are missing. Sumedh Singh
Saini held shares of land measuring 32 kanal. The Punjabi Cooperative
Group House Building Society had also purchased 21.2 acres for Rs
8.19 crores and sold it to Tata Housing Development Corporation
Limited for about Rs 96.59 crores.
Mentioning village
Bartana, the Tribunal report states that on May 9, 1985, Kuldeep
Singh Minhas, Director of Consolidation of Holdings, passed orders
for distribution of 1104 bigha panchayat land among the people as per
their shareholdings and, by ignoring the mutation showing the land as
of gram panchayat land. The records show Kuldeep Singh’s own
landholding. Thus through his order, he himself became the
beneficiary. Further the entry in the records had been found in
different ink and prima facie looked to be interpolated. The Tribunal
held that the director had no authority to pass orders to work out
shares of individuals. The Tribunal also suggested an investigation
to establish whether or not the Kuldeep Singh in the Bartana record
is the same Kuldeep Singh who held the post of director and, if so,
then take suitable action.
The Tribunal
report states that in Village Majrian, if found that records were
tampered with in connivance with Revenue officials. Some persons were
shown as shareholders and received shares vide an order passed by
Consolidation Officer on April 22, 1991. These persons, according to
the patwari, were fictitious and had been incorporated fraudulently
in the records. A large chunk of the land in question was shamlat
land, or its was hilly or constituted choe. Hence, The Director of
Consolidation was not authorized to pass orders for dividing shares.
Later the shares were sold. In 2003, on request of shareholders, land
was partitioned. This land is now in possession of several people,
among them Captain Amarinder Singh and his mother Mohinder Kaur, and
several others. The Tribunal held that the orders passed in 1991 and
2003 were illegal and thus void. The Tribunal recommends punishment
for persons responsible for tampering with the records.
Mentioning Village
Karoran, now known as Naya Gaon, the Tribunal states that in 1995
sanction was given to mutate shamlat land measuring 22965 kanal lands
in favor of Shamsher Singh and others. The Tribunal states that this
mutation was illegal. After this mutation, the individuals started
selling their shares and sale deeds of Rs 30 to 35 thousand were
subsequently registered. In the case of other mutations, the Tribunal
also holds them to be illegal as no Revenue official at any time
demarcated the shares on the ground. Major shareholders who now own
the land in the village included Col B.S. Sandhu, his firms,
including World Wide Immigration Consultancy Services and Green Earth
Society and his two sons. The Tribunal states that the Sandhu family
holds land measuring 4709 kanals.
Referring to
another village, Mullanpur Garib Dass, the Tribunal states that for
more than 30 years some individuals are locked in a legal dispute
with the panchayat over land ownership. Of 476 cases, 425 petitioners
have died.
The Tribunal gives
a clean chit to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy
Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. The report mentions about the
Badal family in connection with settlement of land owned in village
Lohgarh in Zirakpur. This land was never owned or possessed by the
state, panchayet or public authority. The Tribunal also gives a clean
chit to the Kairon family for land owned in village Chhat and
Kishanpura.
The report
submitted by the Tribunal refers to the non cooperative manner of
government officials who provided the Tribunal required material
after great delay. The report stated that both oral and written
requests were made to the concerned police officials to handover the
records of investigations made by Chander Shekhar and Reddy. The
Tribunal was formed through a High Court order on May 29, 2005.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kuldeep Singh, who heads the
Tribunal, wrote to the Punjab Inspector General of Police on December
5, 2012 requesting the record. Later, on January 15 and January 30,
he again wrote, requesting the record. Later, the Tribunal agreed to
take the record on CDs made by Chander Shekhar. However, out of 294
CDs only 47 were provided to him on February 7, 2013.
Stating that the
work relating to periphery of Chandigarh only would take a minimum of
one year, the Tribunal has left the decision about the extension of
its period to the High Court. The Tribunal has however, made
suggestions for faster disposal of civil cases. It suggests that
orders of civil courts, Consolidation and Revenue authorities be
reopened and decided afresh. The Tribunal also suggests a fast track
court and special attorneys to handle such cases. The Tribunal has
suggested establishment of a special High Court bench to handle the
cases.
The Day and night
news team talked to Kuldeep Singh, whose petition resulted in the
investigation. However, Kuldeep Singh did not seem to be convinced
with the investigations.
Kuldeep Singh said
that he expected that the Tribunal would give him a hearing to take
his version on the sequence of incidents that forced him to move to
High Court. The High Court has set the next hearing of the case for
March 25 when the bench would decide on need of further probe or next
line of action.
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