Anshu
Seth, Hindustan Times
Ludhiana
, January 16, 2013
An
inquiry conducted by Ludhiana deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari into
the pond encroachment at Jhamat village part of the Rs. 200-crore
land scam - has found 11 persons guilty of constructing houses on the
pond land. Block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Ranjit
Singh has filed eviction cases against Gurcharan Singh, Tarishan
Singh, Shamsher Singh, Harbans Kaur former sarpanch Sukhpal Singh's
wife Ishar Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Balbir Singh, Shamsher Singh,
Sukhpal Singh, Major Singh and Kewal Singh.
HT
has highlighted the scam in a series of stories, including 'Rural
dept fails to act in Jhamat land scam' (October 1, 2012) and
'Whistleblower put in jail, kin allege police atrocity (December 11).
The
whistleblowers in the scam, Gurmukh Singh and Gurpal Singh, had filed
a writ in the Punjab and Haryana high court against the department of
rural development and panchayats, Punjab, Ludhiana DC, district
development and panchayat officer (DDPO), BDPO and the Jhamat gram
panchayat.
Justice
Rajiv Bhalla and justice Rekha Mittal, in their judgment dated July
5, 2012, had ruled in favour of Gurmukh Singh, thereby directing the
Ludhiana DC to conduct an inquiry into the matter after associating
the complainant as well as the respondents, and to initiate remedial
proceedings to retrieve land if the inquiry revealed that land had
been encroached upon.
The
DC sent a team of the DDPO (Ludhiana) BDPO (Ludhiana-2), the
panchayat secretary and the village patwari to trace old records
relating to the village and conduct on-the-spot demarcation of the
pond. The old records and a map of 1882 showed that the pond area was
2 acres, 1 kanal and 17 marlas. In an order passed in 2002 by then
additional deputy commissioner (development), 2 kanal and 8 marlas of
land was allotted to the persons found guilty of encroachment.
Meanwhile,
DC Rahul Tewari said an appeal against the order of the additional
deputy commissioner (development) had been filed in the court of the
director, rural development and panchayats, Punjab.
"A
case against the encroachers under the Public Premises (eviction of
unauthorised occupants) Act, 1971, has been registered in the
collector's court. We have also sent a complaint to the director,
rural development and panchayats, against the previous panchayat for
not taking action to retrieve the panchayati pond," the DC
added.
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