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Land grabbing on Bathinda-Malout road: DC writes to top revenue officials on FIR delay
According to an official communication sent to the top brass of the revenue department on March 12 (HT has a copy), DC Jaspreet Singh has urged the state authorities to order police investigation against a Bathinda-based doctor and others in the matter.
Citing delay on part of the police to registering FIR in a case of alleged encroachment over public land on the Bathinda-Malout road, the Bathinda deputy commissioner (DC) has written to finance commissioner (revenue), seeking state authorities’ intervention in the matter.
According to an official communication sent to the top brass of the revenue department on March 12 (HT has a copy), DC Jaspreet Singh has urged the state authorities to order police investigation against a Bathinda-based doctor and others in the matter.
On January 29, HT had first reported on the district administration’s findings about the land-grabbing of 12,000 yards on Bathinda-Malout road, a prime location on the city’s periphery.
In the last 50 days, the DC office has sent two reminders to the Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) to start an investigation and register an FIR against the four persons under sections, including 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 465 (forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and the Registration Act. But the district police have not started a probe.
SSP Harmanbir Singh Gill remained unavailable for comments, despite several attempts to reach him on Friday.
The public relations officer of the district officer said the SSP office has been apprised of the media query but no detailed response was shared till the time of filing the report.
DC Jaspreet Singh said the administration is working on the matter.
On January 25, an office order was sent by the civil administration to the SSP that carried the names of the accused. It also mentioned the name of a tehsildar for his alleged role in the unauthorised execution of the sale and purchase of the encroached land.
Also, the name of a kanungo is mentioned in the report with evidence that the officer submitted a false report to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) that the power utility did not own the land.
As per the information, the SSP office shot off a letter to the DC office on February 8, asking to clarify the roles of tehsildar and kanungo after getting them to join investigation.
Based on the district attorney’s opinion, the SSP office also stated that an inquiry was conducted in 2022 and it wanted clarity on the grounds of the criminal offences.
Also, the police department asked the DC office to share details of the number of land registrations done by the Bathinda municipal corporation from 2014 and documents admitted for registrations.
Responding to the letter on March 1, the DC office stated that the outcome of the detailed departmental probe is a “serious matter and an investigation is very important” as the “wrongful land registration caused financial loss to the state exchequer and encroachment of the government land”.
In another letter sent to the SSP office on March 7, the administration reiterated that the police were asked to initiate an investigation but to no avail.
