Protest against VB action: Punjab revenue official unions suspend property registrations till March 7

Following the vigilance bureau’s (VB) action against a sub-registrar, nambardar, registry clerk and others for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent land deal, the Punjab revenue department unions suspended property registrations till March 7 in protest

Ludhiana : Following the vigilance bureau’s (VB) action against a sub-registrar, nambardar, registry clerk and others for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent land deal, the Punjab revenue department unions suspended property registrations till March 7 in protest.

Following the vigilance bureau’s (VB) action against a sub-registrar, nambardar, registry clerk and others for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent land deal, the Punjab revenue department unions suspended property registrations till March 7 in protest.

The revenue officials also threatened to reveal documents related to “benami” properties owned by various officials, including those in the vigilance department, as well as politicians.

On Monday, members of the Punjab Revenue Officers’ Association, Punjab Revenue Kanungo Association, Punjab Revenue Patwar Union and DC Office Employee’s Union met at Guru Nanak Bhawan in Ludhiana to express their resentment over the vigilance bureau action.

Lachhman Singh, president of the Punjab Revenue Officers’ Association condemned the FIR lodged against government officials without recording their statements. He demanded a fair investigation and said no raids or arrests should take place until an investigation is concluded.

Announcing the suspension of property registration work, he said that other tasks at sub-registrar offices would continue as usual, but registries won’t be processed till March 7. He added that the next course of action would be decided at a meeting scheduled for March 7.

He pointed out that workload constraints make it impossible to thoroughly verify every document and applicant. “If we scrutinise each document in detail, we can process only 3-4 registries a day. However, we are required to register over 150 properties daily,” he said.

The vigilance bureau arrested advocate Gurcharan Singh of Ludhiana on February 28, while also booking several others for their alleged role in an illegal land deal involving an NRI’s 14-kanal land in Noorpur Bet village. Those booked include tehsildar Jagsir Singh Saran, buyer Deepak Goel, nambardar Baghel Singh, registry clerk Krishan Gopal, property dealer Raghbir Singh, an unidentified computer operator, an unidentified imposter and one Amit Gaur.

According to the vigilance bureau, the market value of the land is approximately ₹6 crore, but the fraudulent sale deed was executed for just ₹30 lakh, with an imposter posing as the rightful owner.