Punjab Vigilance Bureau report names 48 revenue officials accused of accepting bribes

According to the VB report, the district with the highest number of implicated officials is Ludhiana, with six tehsildars/naib tehsildars on the list.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has submitted a report to the chief secretary of Punjab that identified 48 revenue officials accused of accepting bribes through third parties. (File photo)

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The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has submitted a report to the chief secretary of Punjab that identified 48 revenue officials accused of accepting bribes through third parties.

While the revenue officials included 28 tehsildars, 19 naib tehsildars and one sub-registrar from 17 districts of the state, the third parties comprised government employees (known as registry clerks), licenced deed writers called Wasika Navis (who are not government employees), and private individuals.

According to the VB report, a copy of which is available with The Indian Express, the tehsildars and naib tehsildars had assigned “private persons”, government employees, and Wasika Navis to collect the alleged bribe money from individuals seeking property and land registration. After collecting the bribe, specific code words were used, and the money was delivered to the respective tehsildar or naib tehsildar on the same day by these deputed persons.

According to the VB report, the district with the highest number of implicated officials is Ludhiana, with six tehsildars/naib tehsildars on the list. It is followed by Bathinda and Hoshiarpur districts, with five revenue officials each.

There are more than 200 tehsildars/naib tehsildars in the state.

Furthermore, the report highlights a significant loss to the government exchequer due to misclassification of property, such as labelling commercial property as residential and urban property as rural.

Different rates of stamp duty are charged by the state government for different types of land.

In several instances, property registrations were done without the required “no objection certificate” (NOC) in unauthorised colonies with the connivance of agents, property dealers, and colonisers. According to the VB report, in cases where an NOC was not necessary, people were harassed to obtain the NOC or were forced to pay bribes. Additionally, tehsildars, with the help of patwaris (village-level revenue officers), extracted bribes from individuals during the registration of “intkaal” (mutation) by altering ancestral property records (farad), the report stated.

The VB report has the names and designations of the revenue officers involved in these bribery cases, as well as of the individuals from whom they took the bribe. The report has the names and job descriptions of the private/government employees associated with these illicit activities.

For instance, in Ludhiana district, the report has named six revenue officers, including five tehsildars and one naib tehsildar, who collected the bribed amount through 17 individuals, including nine government-employed registry clerks, three private individuals, and five Wasika Navis.

In Bathinda, three tehsildars and two naib tehsildars have been named, while in Hoshiarpur, the report has identified three tehsildars and two naib tehsildars. These officials were also found to have accepted the illegal money from deed writers, sewadars, registry clerks, and others, according to the VB report.

Rupnagar, Mohali, and Jalandhar districts each have four revenue officers implicated in this bribery case. They included four tehsildars and eight naib tehsildars. Similar collection methods were observed in these districts as well, according to the report.

Kapurthala and Patiala districts each have three revenue officials on the list including three tehsildars and three naib tehsildars.

Sangrur, Nawanshahr, and Gurdaspur districts each have two revenue officials, including four tehsildars in total.

Barnala, Moga, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Muktsar Sahib districts each had one revenue officer’s name.

The VB collected these inputs during April and May this year.

The VB report, signed on May 19, was sent to the chief secretary, who forwarded it to the additional chief secretary-cum-financial commissioner, revenue, Punjab, on June 1, 2023, for necessary action.