RTI: Nature of land was changed blatantly after 3D notification
SHADOW ON VB CLEAN CHIT Records show farmland shown as residential or commercial property to pocket higher compensation after the (3D) notification that vests the land in central govt was out
CHANDIGARH: Even as Punjab vigilance and anti-corruption bureau recently filed a closure report in the multi-crore Hoshiarpur land scam case, giving a clean chit to the accused, including three Akali Dal leaders and PCS officer Anand Sagar Sharma, it is on record that the ‘nature of portions of the land’ was changed from ‘agricultural to residential or commercial’ allegedly to pocket hefty compensation after the ‘3(D)’ notification of land acquisition.
A 3(D) notification under National Highway Act-1956 is done after listening to all the objections and the land is then vested in the Central government. The process of awarding compensation to the landowners starts after this notification.
A letter dated February 12, 2018, from the then Hoshiarpur tehsildar to the SDM mentions that in 15 villages falling under the Hoshiarpur tehsil where around 76 acres of land was acquired for the Hoshiarpur-Chintpurni bypass, the nature of 27 acres of land was changed after the 3(D) notification was out.
Hoshiarpur-based RTI activist, Rajiv Vashishit, who is the whistle-blower in the case, recently procured records of the land acquisition process through the Right To Information (RTI) Act and the said letter is part of a departmental inquiry ordered against former Hoshiarpur SDM Anand Sagar Sharma, who was the ‘competent authority for land acquisition (CALA)’ that started in 2014. The departmental probe is still pending.
Interestingly, changes in ‘nature of land’ were more in Khawaspur and Hardokhanpur villages where SAD leaders — then Hoshiarpur market committee chairman Avtar Singh Johal, then SAD councillor Harpinder Gill, and then district co-operative bank chairman Satwinder Pal Singh Dhatt — owned big chunks. The FIR registered against them by the VB claims that the SAD leaders and the SDM were hand-in-glove in changing the nature of the land from agricultural to commercial after the 3(D) notification by showing “fake” residential colonies to pocket higher compensation.
Another letter procured by Vashisht through the RTI reveals that when the SDM and the executive engineer, central public works department (B&R), Hoshiarpur, forwarded 3(A) notification to the central government, both claimed they received 40 objections for change in ‘nature of land’ in 21 days (the time government gives to file objections) and they all were rejected on October 2015.
However, the draft award says “objections received during the period of 21 days were decided and a land variation certificates submitted through proper channel”. In the VB probe attached with the closure report, the SDM says terming changing ‘nature of land’ after 3(D) notification as wrong is “an incorrect interpretation of the Act”. HT has the copy of the report.
“Nature of land was blatantly changed in order to ensure hefty compensation for the accused. On one side, CALA (the SDM) claimed to have rejected the objections on change in nature of land, in the draft award, he attached the variation certificates and paid hefty amounts by admitting most of the properties as residential. The VB has overlooked everything to ensure a clean chit to the accused,” said Vashisht.
Punjab and Haryana High Court bench of justice AB Chaudhary, while granting bail to SDM Anand Sagar on August 9, 2017, observed: “If amount of compensation has been actually paid to transferees post-issuance of 3(D) notification and the original owners were deprived of, steps to attach property of government officials concerned could also be taken.”
CONTRASTING PROBE OUTCOMES
In July 2016, a probe into the case was ordered by then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal after Hindustan Times carried a series of reports, following which 10 people, including SDM Anand Sagar and three SAD leaders were booked by the VB.
The FIR against SAD leaders, SDM and others was registered by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by then inspector general (VB) Shive Verma. The chargesheet of the case was also ready but could not be filed in the court as the probe was stopped when a ‘local commissioner’ appointed by the high court submitted that the compensation was paid as per “nature of the land in existence”.
On May 25, 2018, the VB constituted another SIT headed by DSP Paramjit Singh Goraya, who in June 2019, contradicted IG’s findings and filed a closure report in a Ludhiana court, giving the clean chit to all the accused. A parallel investigation by Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the PMLA found glaring lapses and has recently issued arrest warrants against six accused, including the three SAD leaders, for their custodial interrogation.
› On one side, the SDM claimed he rejected the objections on change in nature of land, in the draft award, he attached the variation certificates and paid hefty amounts by admitting most properties as residential. The VB has overlooked this fact. RAJIV VASHISHIT, RTI activist