Violations in property registration in Haryana rampant since 2017

As many as 49,197 sale deeds were registered in Haryana from April 2017 to October 2020 in violation of the norms, says deputy CM Dushyant Chautala

As many as 49,197 sale deeds were registered in Haryana from April 2017 to October 2020 in violation of the norms, deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who has been under intense attack from the opposition after irregularities in registration of properties surfaced, has informed the Vidhan Sabha.

Haryana chief minister ML Khattar addressing the House on Wednesday. (HT File)

During the assembly session in November last year, this issue was hotly debated under the calling attention notice of the opposition and the BJP-JJP coalition government was on the defensive.

Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of revenue department, had informed the House that a state-wide inquiry was being conducted into the violation of Section 7-A of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (HDRUA) Act-1975 from April 3, 2017 to December 31, 2019.

The opposition had alleged that the irregularities took place after Chautala became revenue minister in October 2019 in the wake of Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) joining the Manohar Lal Khattar-led coalition government.

With 40 MLAs, the BJP was unable to cross the half- way mark in the 90-member assembly and formed the government for the second consecutive term with the help of 10 JJP MLAs.

“In order to ascertain the real picture and to counter opposition’s narrative, the inquiry was ordered from April 2017,” said a JJP functionary.

In a written reply to the question of Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra, deputy CM said: “1,127 FIRs (First Information Reports) were registered in the state in relation to unauthorised colonies/plotting under HDRUA Act, 1975 from 2014 to December 2020.”

As per the reply submitted in response to the un-starred question, 49,197 sale deeds were registered in Haryana “in violation of Section-7” of the HDRUA Act from 2017 to October 2020.

The Section-7 of HDRUA Act pertains to a no-objection certificate the town and country planning department grants before registration of land in notified urban areas.

Gurugram tops the list with 14,228 unauthorised sale deeds, followed by Sonepat (4,954), Palwal (4,040), Mahendergarh (3,950), Rewari (3,118), Jind (2,929) and Rohtak (2,642). Among other districts where this illegality took place are Ambala (1,089), Bhiwani (614), Faridabad (1,480), Fatehabad (520), Hisar (383), Jhajjar (1,708), Kaithal (1,353), Karnal and Kurukshetra (1,325 each), Nuh (1,755), Panchkula (22), Panipat (112), Sirsa (1,603), and Yamunanagar (47).

The largest 205 FIRs pertaining to unauthorised colonies/plotting under the Act in question were lodged in Faridabad, followed Rohtak (129), Sonepat (112) and Kurukshetra (106).

It may be recalled the deputy CM on Wednesday had also informed the House that 6,223 sale deeds were registered in violation of the rules last year from February 1 to December 31. Chautala had said that the registered sale deeds violating section-7 of the Haryana Urban Development Regulation Act-1975 cannot be cancelled.

The state government has chargesheeted eight registrars and sub-registrars in this regard and the case is under police investigation.