E-Paper
Ludhiana: HC orders FIRs in 3 days in 159 undervalued land deals
In the remaining 134 cases, the court ruled that proceedings under Section 47-A of the Stamp Act, relating to determination of deficient stamp duty, must be carried out and completed within four weeks
The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has directed the Ludhiana police to register FIRs in connection with 159 out of 296 cases involving allegedly undervalued land transactions in Ludhiana East sub-division between 2016 and 2019. The court ordered that the FIRs be registered within three days of receiving its directions.
In the remaining 134 cases, the court ruled that proceedings under Section 47-A of the Stamp Act, relating to determination of deficient stamp duty, must be carried out and completed within four weeks.
The court was informed that three cases stand on a different footing as in one case, no deficiency in stamp duty has been found, while appeals in two other cases have already been filed before the divisional commissioner. The matter has been listed for further hearing on April 22.
During the hearing, the counsel submitted that nearly 2.5 lakh sale deeds were registered in the area and that each document would have to be examined manually to identify discrepancies in stamp duty payments.
The directions were issued while hearing a writ petition filed by whistleblower Subhash Kundra alias Katty, a resident of Sector 32-A, Chandigarh Road, Ludhiana, who has been pursuing the issue since 2016. He had earlier submitted several representations to the police, Vigilance Bureau and district administration, alleging large-scale loss to the state exchequer due to undervaluation of properties. Kundra also claimed that he had received threats and was even assaulted for raising the issue.
During the previous hearing held on February 9, an additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) had informed the court that FIRs would be registered in all 296 cases and a thorough investigation would be conducted.
District revenue officer (DRO) Girjinder Singh, who was present in court, assured that he would personally examine the matter and submit a status report on the next date of hearing. He also undertook to look into the reasons why deficient stamp duties were not recovered in the 296 cases.
