Chandigarh March 15: Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the state government's fight against corruption would continue and strict action would be taken against those found involved in corruption cases.
Following the zero-tolerance policy adopted by the state government against corruption, it was announced today that the registries executed between the years 2010 to 2016 in all 140 tehsils and sub-tehsils would be investigated. After preparing a concrete report within six months, a decision on the next course of action will be taken, added Sh. Manohar Lal.
While interacting with the media persons after the Vidhan Sabha session, the Chief Minister said that the opposition has never shared any authenticated information with the State Government about irregularities regarding violation of 7-A in the notified area under the Urban Area Development and Regulation, 1975, rather it was the State Government, who took the cognizance and marked an inquiry to curb these irregularities.
As a result of this, on August 13, 2020, all the Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners were directed to verify and make available the data of the registries in the tehsils executed from the year 2017 to the year 2020.
Sh. Manohar Lal said that it was mandatory to take NOC from Urban Local Bodies Department and Town and Country Planning Department for registry executed under Section 7-A. But from the year 1975 to 2017 no government has ever paid attention to whether NOC has been obtained for the registry or not.
He also informed that to prevent mushrooming of unauthorized colonies in cities, amendments have been made from time to time in Section 7-A of the Urban Area Development and Regulation Act, 1975 in the tenure of previous governments as well.
The Chief Minister said that in the year 2017, the present state government has replaced two hectares of vacant land notified under this Act, that is two and a half acres, with two kanals of agricultural land so that mushrooming of unauthorized colonies are not encouraged.
After that on September 14, 2020, by making another amendment, the two Kanal agricultural land was changed to one-acre vacant land. These amendments have been done from time to time based on public demand and complaints received by the State Government, informed Sh. Manohar Lal.
He said that on June 13, 2020, some complaints regarding irregularities in the registries were received from Gurugram and the government itself took cognizance and lodged an FIR and the Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar, Patwari etc. were suspended.
After this, on August 13, 2020, the State Government also wrote a letter to the Finance Commissioner, Divisional Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners and directed them to share the information about the violation of 7-A in the registry in the respective tehsils with the government.
As a result, about 68,000 registries have some irregularities that have come to the notice of the government. The Tehsildars, Sub-Tehsildars, Patwaris, Clerks etc., related to these registries were asked to file clarifications within 15 days, informed Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Chief Minister said that action was taken against 381 patwaris for converting vacant agricultural land as 'Gairmumkin' land in the revenue records at the time of Girdawari.
E-registration started for transparency in the land registry
The Chief Minister said that earlier the work of registry was done manually, but an online system was introduced in September 2020 by the State Government. New registries were not done across the state for one-and-a-half months to ensure that the entire system can run smoothly.
He said that now the type of land will be linked with the revenue record under the registration process so that no officer or employee can change the land type while executing the registries. If necessary, amendments will also be made in these rules so that no possibility of any malpractice can take place at any stage, informed the Chief Minister.
1300 unauthorized colonies applied for regularization
The Chief Minister said that preventing the mushrooming of unauthorized colonies is the main target of the state government and that is why all these systems are being adopted. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban and Rural) is also a part of these systems under which affordable housing facilities have been provided to the poor to prevent mushrooming of unauthorized colonies.
He said that unauthorized colonies have been regularized even during the tenure of the previous government. The present state government has also regularized 750 unauthorized colonies during its tenure and now 1300 such colonies have sent applications for regularization to the government. These colonies will be regularized after fulfilling all the criteria.
Not anyone, we have ourselves tightened the noose around those involved in corruption
The Chief Minister said that it is not just a matter of curbing the irregularities in the land registries, as apart from this, CM Flying Squad, State Vigilance Bureau, District Vigilance Teams have also been activated so that such cases can be closely monitored at the ground level as well.
Arrest of District Town Planner, Tehsildar and two JEs by the Vigilance Bureau in Karnal proves tha fact that the State Government will not tolerate corruption at any level.
He said that the opposition said that the government has accepted the irregularities in the land registry, but in reality, we have caught these errors and not accepted them.
We have collected all the information regarding this at our own level, as the Opposition has never informed to the government about the irregularities in the land registries.
Replying to a question asked by the journalists, the Chief said that it is not that the state government is trying to save anyone, but the officers whose names have been taken by the Opposition in the House today will also be examined.
Responding to another question, the Chief Minister said that the rule of obtaining NOC at the time of registration of land has been in place since the year 1975. For a regular colony, the developer has to pay External Development Charges, according to the calculation, it costs around Rs. 2500 rupees to provide all the basic facilities on 1 square meter and hence unauthorized colonies are nourished to avoid payment of development charges.
The Chief Minister said that there has been no evasion of stamp duty and registration has been done by changing the type of lands and development charges have not been taken.
Each eligible beneficiary will get their pension entitlement
The Chief Minister said that the government aims to provide benefits of all welfare schemes to every beneficiary.
Responding to a question regarding pension, the Chief Minister said that there are certain terms and conditions for old age pension since 1991. In the year 2011, according to the rules, the income of husband and wife should not exceed more than Rs 50,000 to get the benefit of pension, but in the year 2012, the previous government raised this limit to Rs 2 lakh.
Through Parivar Pehchan Patra, we have got the data of 23000 such persons aged between 60 to 70 years who have not yet availed the pension benefits. The government is contacting all such persons and after the survey, the pension will be provided to all such beneficiaries.