Six revenue officials booked for illegally registering properties

GURUGRAM: Six revenue department officials, who were earlier suspended by the state government for alleged irregularities in registration of property deeds in the Gurugram district, were booked by the police on Saturday for cheating and violating rules of the Haryana Urban Development Act, said the police on Monday.

A case has also been registered against a retired revenue department official in connection with the same offence, said the police. The cases against the seven accused were registered under section 420 of the IPC and sections 10 and 11 of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act 1975 at different police stations of the city on the basis of a complaint filed by the district town planner (enforcement).

The officials against whom cases have been registered are Bansi Lal (tehsildar), Sohna; Dalbir Singh Duggal (naib tehsildar), Sohna; Hari Krishan (naib tehsildar), Badshahpur; Jai Prakash (naib tehsildar) Wazirabad; Deshraj Kamboj (naib tehsildar), Gurugram, and Jagdish (naib tehsildar), Manesar, said the police. Additionally, the retired revenue official, who has also been booked in the same case is Om Prakash (naib tehsildar), Qadipur.

The cases have been registered at various police stations across the city, namely Sohna city, Sector 10, Shivaji Nagar police station, Sector 56 police station, Badshahpur police station and the Manesar police station.

As per the department of town and country planning (DTCP), an inquiry conducted by the divisional commissioner of Gurugram found that these officials were allegedly engaged in registering property deeds without obtaining no-objection certificates from town planning body.

The complaint submitted to the city police commissioner by district town planner (enforcement), states that as per the letter/email received from financial commissioner of Haryana, the above-mentioned officials have been found to be guilty of violating Section 7A of the Haryana Urban Development Act of 1975 while registering property documents.

RS Bhath, district town planner, in-charge of the enforcement wing, said that the complaint was filed after directions were received from the headquarters in Chandigarh. “A complaint was lodged with the police as per the directions received from the headquarters. The DTCP has been raising the issue of illegal registration of properties in Gurugram for the last one year,” said Bhath.

Meanwhile, Ramesh Yadav, an RTI activist, who had application regarding these illegal deeds, alleged that over 1,000 such registrations have been carried out during the lockdown.

Subhash Boken, spokesperson, city police, said, “The cases have been registered and a probe has been initiated as per the law.” Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala has also taken a keen interest in the matter.