Committee set up to investigate land grabbing in JKs Rajouri

A six-member committee has been constituted to probe alleged role of some officials and private beneficiaries in encroachment of prime land worth crores within municipal limits of Rajouri district town in Jammu and Kashmir.
A month-long inquiry into land records found that in many cases ownership rights were granted in violation of State Lands (Vesting of Ownership Rights) Act and Rules thereof, an official spokesman said today.
Field officials and custodians of record changed the type of soil or kind of land to accord undue benefit to private persons, the spokesman said.
He said the decision to form a committee to retrieve the encroached land was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary yesterday.

The committee headed by district vigilance officer would investigate the matter viz-a-viz involvement of officials and private persons in the case, granting of undue and illegal ownership rights, encroachment on state land, illegal entries in revenue records and other related issues, the spokesman said.
He said the committee, comprising revenue and police officers apart from district statistics and evaluation officer, would fix the quantum of losses.

The committee would formulate its report in a period of one month which will be submitted to competent authority for action, the spokesman said.
He said the crime came to the fore after a process was initiated for identification of land for creation of parking lots to decongest city roads.

The revenue papers of stated private land were examined with effect from Misl-e-Haqiyat (record of rights) of 1961- 62 and it was found after thorough scrutiny that a number of irregularities were allegedly committed by officials to accord undue benefit to private persons, the spokesman said.
In four different cases, land in 34 different Khasra numbers came under scrutiny and it was found that out of over 88 acres land comprising these Khasra numbers a total of over seven acres was state land worth more than Rs 40 crore at prevailing market rates, the spokesman said.
However, he said the record was manipulated over a period of many years for wrongful and illegal mutation of land thereby causing huge loss to state exchequer.

In some glaring irregularities Gair Mumkin Rod (Riverine) and Gair Mumkin Kuhl (irrigation canal) type of land was allotted under the Roshni Act by granting ownership rights, the spokesman said.
He said revenue officials of irrigation department are also under the scanner for their role in allowing department land worth crores to be encroached.
In another criminal act, state land was shown as occupied by "Auqaaf Committee" (that looks after affairs of mosques and shrines) and later allotted to a private person and further mutated in favour of sons in illegal manner.
There is no mention of Auqaf department in records or any order to this effect which reflects that some officials used this entry to illegally allot state land to private persons, the spokesman said.

Further, he said state land measuring nearly half an acre was mutated in favour of private persons under the Roshni Act without any prior girdawri in blatant violation of rules.
Further, illegal constructions have been raised on state land even after inspection of senior officers and without any mention of same in revenue records some officials furnished report about existing structures in violation of rules to help and assist some land encroachers to make their case recently, the spokesman said.
He said such officials have been asked to explain their position before action is initiated against them.