ACB books 6 officials for illegal allotment of official land in Jammu

Jammu, Feb 19 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday registered a case against former managing director of J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation (JKCHC) Bharat Bhushan Sharma and five revenue officials for illegal allotment of official land here, an official said.

The case was filed following a probe into allegations that JKCHC purchased 392 kanal of land from private persons for establishing a housing colony at village Bain-Bajalta and it also illegally occupied ‘kah charai’ (grazing land), ‘maqbuza sarkar’ (state land) and Jammu Development Authority (JDA) land, a spokesperson of the ACB said.

He said the management of JKCHC in connivance with officials of revenue department illegally occupied a total of about 584 kanal land before allotting the same to different persons by making plots.

During the preliminary enquiry, the spokesman said the corporation illegally occupied state land measuring 111 kanal and 17 marlas.

Apart from this, the JKCHC also occupied 100 kanal 15 marla land falling under from the owners vested with proprietary rights of the land, he said.

“The inquiry revealed that the officials of JKCHC and revenue department in furtherance of a well-knit conspiracy, hatched among themselves and the beneficiaries, by abuse of their official position, paved way for the transfer of rights of the land for establishing a housing colony in violation to the government provisions dishonestly and fraudulently by misrepresenting facts, thereby conferring undue benefits upon themselves, the corporation and the beneficiaries,” he said.

The probe identified Sharma, the then tehsildars Shesh Paul Salgotra and Sanjay Badyal; the then naib tehsildars Sidhra and Mahesh Chander; and patwaris Farooq Hussain and Nek Mohd as the accused besides the beneficiaries, he said.

A case under relevant sections of law including the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered in police station ACB Central. Further investigation has started, the spokesman said.