5 cases of land-grab against officers

CHANDIGARH: The CM flying squad on Tuesday filed five cases of alleged grabbing of panchayat land against two officers, including one from Haryana civil services.
Cases of corruption and forgery were registered against the then SDM-cum-assistant collector Vivek Padam Singh under sections 420, 467, 468, 469, 120-B and Section 13(1)D of the Anti-corruption Act, 1988, at police stations of sectors 5, 56 and Sadar in Gurgaon.Similarly, a case was registered against the then district development and panchayat officer VS Malik at Sector 56 of Gurgaon under the same charges.
Gurgaon deputy commissioner Rakesh Gupta said a case of misappropriating 182 kanal land of Badshahpur village came to his knowledge and he got the matter investigated from the vigilance department. It was found the then SDM-cum-assistant collector Vivek Padam Singh had decided the cases pertaining to panchayat land by using powers not vested in him, and the land costing crores of rupees was misappropriated with the help of sarpanch and other officials of the revenue department. A case was registered in this regard.
Similar incidents came to light at Tikli Sakatpur, Balola, Daultabad, Abhaypur, Bandwari and Ghata villages. Gupta wrote a letter to the then chief secretary Prem Prashant to get these cases inquired by the vigilance department.
The land involved was one bigha, 20 biswas at Tikli village in three different cases, 35 kanals 15 marlas at Balola village, 51 kanals 8 marlas at Daultabad village, 2,599 kanals 17 marlas at Sakatpur village, 72 kanals 11 marlas at Abhaypur village, and 33 marlas at Ghata village.
Similarly, a decision was taken by the then DDPO VS Malik for panchayat land measuring about 1,219 acres at Bandhwari village, which allegedly benefited the land mafia.