FIR, Vigilance probe sought into Palampur land scam

The BJP has demanded an independent inquiry into the Palampur land scam, in which, the land mafia has allegedly forged the documents of a British-origin woman in manipulation with the local authorities to grab 101 kanals of a prime land at Banuri village in Palampur sub-division of the Kangra district. The spokesman of the state-unit of the BJP Sanjay Sharma, media co-Incharge Vishav Chakshu and district president of Kangra Sachin Sharma, while talking to the media persons at Dharamsala on Thursday, alleged that the Congress government in the hill state was patronising land mafia for the reasons best known to them. “It’s high time for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu registered a criminal case in the Palampur land scam and hand over its inquiry to the Vigilance Department. And, all those, including officials of the Municipal Corporation (Palampur), revenue department, other concerned departments and members of land mafia must be taken into custody; besides, summoning all relevant documents of the land scam for a fair investigation”, the BJP leaders demanded. Sanjay Sharma said that it was shameful on the part of the district administration to hand over inquiry to the local revenue authorities whose role in the land scam was suspicious. “It seems that the administration is trying to protect local officials of the revenue department,” he added. It may be mentioned that the disputed land actually belonged to a British-origin man TJ Glinsal, who, before his death in 1965, gave the proprietary rights of the land to his daughter Rozna Saraf, also a British-origin woman. But, she hardly lived in this village. She reportedly died at Mohal village in Amritsar district in Punjab where her death was registered in 1978. The village record of her death was used here for the issuance of her death certificate by MC, Palampur. Interestingly, it is learnt that a local revenue official ‘misued’ the administrative powers asking the Commissioner of the MC to issue the death certificate. The MC officials did not cross-check the facts while issuing the death certificate even as the Nambardar of Banuri village Alok Sharma testified before the revenue authorities that Rozna Saraf never lived in his village. She also did not have her residence in this village and was not a local resident, he stated. The BJP leaders alleged that the death certificate was later used by the members of land mafia to claim ownership of the disputed land even as 20 local families were settled here for the past many decades. The state government under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 (notified on February 21, 1974) gave the proprietary rights of this land to the local settlers as no one came forward to claim this land. “If the state government has given proprietary rights of this land to the local settlers, how can the revenue authorities transfer it to other persons who claimed that they are the legal heirs of Rozna Saraf, without the consent of local settlers who have been given proprietary rights by the state government,” Sanjay Sharma questioned the Congress government?

Himachal Tribune