Sale deeds in the name of dead, LIT directed to conduct inquiry

In December 2018, a complaint was sent to the department and vigilance bureau by Jatinder Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, who accused the two clerks of registering the deeds in the names of dead persons, against a bribe of ₹10 lakh

Suspecting an alleged scam wherein sale deeds of two plots in Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar were registered by two clerks of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) in the name of dead persons, the Punjab Local bodies department has sent a reminder to LIT for conducting an inquiry into the matter and asked for a report.

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In December 2018, a complaint was sent to the department and vigilance bureau by Jatinder Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, who accused the two clerks— Gagandeep and Kapurdin— of registering the deeds in the names of dead persons. The accused took ₹10 lakh for registering the sale deed of each plot, he had alleged.

As per the complaint, the staff has registered sale deed of plots 71-C and 593-F of SBS Nagar in the name of deceased Sunil Rai and Madhu Bhushan respectively. Both are children of Harbans Lal, a resident of BRS Nagar. The complaint said that it is mandatory for the person to mark his or her presence while getting the sale deed registered to make sure that the person is alive.

The complainant also claimed that the whole process was carried out in connivance with other senior officials of LIT and a few property dealers.

LIT executive officer (EO) Harpreet Sandhu said LIT had received the complaint and he has directed the executive engineer, SDO and JE to inquire into the matter. The presence of a person is mandatory at the time of registering the deed and if manipulations have been done, required action would be taken in this regard. The vigilance department is also conducting an inquiry into the case at state level, said the EO.

The local bodies department had asked LIT to inquire into the matter in the month of May. But they failed to send a report regarding the same to the department due to which a reminder was sent.

The vigilance bureau had also directed the department to act against the complaint in the month of June.