MCG officials suspended for illegal registry of land

Deputy commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram(MCG), Amit Khatri, suspended two officials of the revenue department and sent a recommendation to the state government for suspending another official for illegally registering and transferring three acres of MCG land, worth ₹12 crore, in Balliawas village to seven people, officials said on Monday.

According to MCG officials, a tehsildar (revenue collector), a kanungo (land measurer), and a patwari (land accountant) had allegedly colluded and illegally modified MCG’s land records of Balliawas village to transfer a three-acre vacant plot located at the foothills of Aravallis, near the Faridabad border, to seven people.

The matter only came to light last week, when the patwari had a fallout with the kanungo and the tehsildar over some monetary issues, after which he informed the MCG officials about the illegal registry.

Yashpal Yadav, MCG commissioner, subsequently submitted a letter to deputy commissioner Amit Khatri for ensuring that the three-acre land is transferred back to the MCG, while seeking necessary actions against the revenue department officials.

“A complaint had been filed to the deputy commissioner by the MCG regarding illegal registry of civic land in Balliawas village. Following investigation, the deputy commissioner has suspended the kanungo and the patwari from their respective positions, while also sending a recommendation to the state government for suspending the services of the tehsildar of Wazirabad area, and for altering the registry of the MCG land carried out by him,” said a spokesperson for the district administration.

Following the discovery of illegal registry, the MCG had decided to freeze the registry of all of its 26,000 acres of land in the city to ensure that it cannot be illegally transferred to any private or government organisation.

Future registry or transfer of MCG land can now only be done through the revenue commissioner in Chandigarh.

“For safeguarding all MCG-owned land, a decision was taken to freeze registry. Following the discovery of illegal registry, a complaint had been sent to the deputy commissioner and the natural course of action followed,” said Yadav.