Revenue department asks Patiala DC to reclaim land worth crores of Rajpura MC

Patiala: The state revenue department has directed the Patiala deputy commissioner to reclaim a prime piece of property worth over Rs 26 crore in Rajpura, which belongs to the Rajpura municipal council but had been illegally transferred in the names of some local residents in 1994.

The orders have been issued after a local whistleblower took up the matter with the senior officials of the department.

He complained that about 13,320 square yards of prime land, just 100 meters from national highway, had been transferred to some residents of Rajpura for merely Rs 4 lakh in 1994.

According to Varun Malhotra, the whistleblower, initially he thought that this was a piece of shamlat land, the ownership of which has been transferred to individuals. He later found out some local formed a 31-member committee to get the land transferred to local residents for a mere Rs 4.10 lakh in 1991. After mutation, its new ownership by different residents of Rajpura in shares was established in jamabandi-fard in June 1994 on the approval of the then sub-divisional magistrate, Rajpura. However, when he tried to trace the 31-member committee, no record was found with the revenue department.

Malhotra said he then started writing to the senior officials of the rural development and panchayat, who failed to trace the land ownership. However, in a recent letter sent to him by the state revenue department, he was informed that the land actually belonged to the Rajpura civic body.

The department has now written to the Patiala deputy commissioner to ensure that the ownership of the land was restored to the Rajpura civic body according to the rules and the regulations. During the last three years a district administration had already conducted at least three probes into the matter.