STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Two revenue officials were chargesheeted for allegedly transferring prime land worth Rs 22 crore to private persons in Nagrota, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Saturday.
A chargesheet produced by the anti-graft agency before the court of Jammu Anti-corruption Special Judge carried the names of the two officials and 31 private persons, alleged to be the beneficiaries of the corruption.
The legal action follows a case filed in 2020 against the illegal transfer of state land in Nagrota and adjoining areas of Jammu district, the ACB said. The two revenue officials named in the chargesheet are Rajesh Kumar, then in-charge Tehsildar of Nagrota, and Riaz Ahmed, then in-charge Patwari of halqa Jagti Nagrota.
It has been alleged that between 2016 and 2018, the two conspired with some private persons to confer proprietary rights over government land in Jagti, Nagrota, Dung, Marh, and Sitni villages.
Investigations revealed that government notifications issued in 1958 and 1966 were fraudulently invoked while mandatory safeguards were wilfully violated, officials said.
As a result, state land measuring 196 kanal and 10 marla was allegedly transferred to private persons through 18 unauthorised mutations.
The present market value of the land is estimated at over Rs 22 crore, they added.
After the filing of the chargesheet, the matter was transferred to the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Anti-Corruption, Jammu, for judicial determination.
In its 2015 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India flagged “massive encroachment” of state land and pulled up the Jammu Development Authority for failing to demarcate 7,243 acres of land under its control.
