Patiala ex-DC chargesheeted for dereliction of duty

DC Vikas Garg

Chandigarh, July 9

Vigilance probe ordered into sale of government land
The Punjab Government has chargesheeted former Patiala Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg for dereliction of duty. The chargesheet has been approved by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, following which a vigilance probe has been ordered into the sale of government land at Patiala while Garg was the Deputy Commissioner there.

THE CHARGES l He failed to prevent loss to government property l Was instrumental in the sale of prime govt land in Patiala city l The 6,000 sq yrd chunk of land is valued around Rs 250 cr

Garg has been accused of failure to prevent loss to government property. The chargesheet says Garg was instrumental in the sale of prime government land in the heart of Patiala city. The land, measuring about 6,000 sq yards, is valued around Rs 250 crore and houses the offices of the Civil Surgeon, the Education Department etc.

Garg and five other officials of the Patiala Revenue Department were suspended in May for irregularities in the sale of government land in October 2011. According to the directive of the Chief Minister, a vigilance inquiry has been started under the supervision of Suresh Arora, Director General of Police (Vigilance).

According to an earlier inquiry by Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia, Garg had approved registering of two sale deeds (Nos 15901 and 15902). These were registered at the office of Joint Sub Registrar, Patiala, on October 14, 2011.

Those facing suspension include District Revenue Officer Rajbir Singh (under transfer), Tehsildar AS Thind, Naib Tehsildar GS Walia, Kanugo Pritpal Singh and Patwari Suresh Kumar. All these officials will face a vigilance probe besides departmental action.

The initial finding came from Patiala’s Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar, who pointed out that the Patiala revenue officials were involved in the sale of government land. The matter was then got investigated by Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Navreet Singh Kang and he pointed out lapses. Since both officers indicated irregularities, Revenue Minister himself got the matter reviewed and recommended a vigilance probe after suspension of all officials concerned.

Majithia pointed out that the sale deeds were registered despite the fact that the land belonged to the government. Besides the general power of attorney and the special power of attorney (in the names of Ravdeep Singh and Jaswant Singh) used to sell the land stood cancelled and this fact was in the knowledge of those involved in the alleged scam.

On October 7, 2011, the Sub-Registrar, Patiala, had put up a note to the Deputy Commissioner mentioning that the sale deed had again been presented for registration and sought advice on the issue. The note mentioned that the power of attorney given by the owner had already been cancelled. On October 13, 2011, the DRO, Patiala, recorded that the matter had been discussed with the DC and that the registration could not be refused. The sale deed was registered by the Naib Tehsildar, Patiala, on the same date.

An attempt to get a sale deed of this property registered was made earlier also during the tenure of previous Deputy Commissioner Deepinder Singh, but he refused it on the ground that the said land belonged to the government.

Garg has maintained that the land in question was private and there was nothing illegal in its sale.