Gwal Pahari row: HC summons revenue officials with record
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed Gurgaon revenue officials to remain present with relevant records on May 4 over the controversial mutation of 464 acres of Gwal Pahari land in the district.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed Gurgaon revenue officials to remain present with relevant records on May 4 over the controversial mutation of 464 acres of Gwal Pahari land in the district.
The direction was issued by the high court bench of justice Justice SS Saron and Justice Darshan Singh while hearing a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in to the issue.
The high court directed revenue officials — tehsildar/naib tehsildar and revenue patwari and kanoongo —having the charge of village Gwal Pahari to remain present in court on the given date. They have been directed to bring with them the records relating to the disputed land.
The high court acted on the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Harinder Dhingra, a Gurgaon resident, who has sought a CBI probe arguing that bureaucrats, politicians and local revenue officials were involved in the issue.
An independent probe by an agency, such as the CBI, was required to find the people involved in the mutation of the prime land, the petitioner had argued.
Read I Gurgaon: MCG to take action against Gwal Pahari residents from February 16
According to Dhingra, ownership of the disputed land was with the gram panchayat of Gwal Pahari since 1940 and was transferred to Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in 2010.
Then financial commissioner (revenue)Yudhvir Singh Malik was not competent to pass an order on mutation in 2012, which the petitioner alleged had “favoured” some builders. Malik passed the order on the application of a private party challenging the 2010 transfer of land.
Malik’s decision was challenged by the MCG before financial commissioner Surina Rajan, who stayed the order. But in October 2015, SS Dhillon, an IAS officer, restored the same.
Thereafter, the matter had reached the state government and a decision was taken for mutation of land in favour in MCG. But this order too was declared void in January, 2017 by then district collector TL Satyaprakash. District collector ‘s decision has now been stayed by Gurgaon divisional commissioner D Suresh in February, as per the petitioner.