By Arun Pratap Singh
Nainital, 11 Jul: The Uttarakhand High Court heard a PIL filed related to action against land frauds and illegal sale and purchase of land in the state. While hearing the case here, today, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal reminded the state government that, in 2014, the state government had formed a Land Fraud Coordination Committee and sought to know how this committee is working and how many complaints related to land fraud have been registered and investigated by it, so far. The court has directed the government to file its response in this regard by next Tuesday i.e. 16 July.
It may be recalled that Dehradun resident Sachin Sharma had filed a PIL saying that the state government had formed a Land Fraud Coordination Committee in the year 2014. In the PIL, it was also pointed out that Commission was under the administrative control of Kumaon and Garhwal Commissioners, while IG Police and regional DIGs and the regional Forest Conservators as well as heads of the Development Authorities concerned and the Municipal Commissioners were also included in the committee along with SIT officials. The PIL claims that the objective of this committee was to investigate the cases of land fraud and cheating in land deals happening in the state. It was also given authority to get the complaints investigated by the SIT and register cases in case a fraud was detected. The PIL claims that, at present, instead of this committee, it is the Police which is itself registering the cases and investigating the cases on its own without taking the Commission into confidence. The rules and provisions framed while setting up this Coordination Committee provide that all the complaints received regarding cheating in land transactions or land frauds should be sent to the Committee for investigation.
Sachin Sharma also claimed in the PIL that the police neither knows the rules of land related cases nor does it have the power to register a case in such cases. It is clearly mentioned in the government order that when such a case comes to the police, it should be sent to the Land Fraud Coordination Committee which will get the complaint investigated and, in case a fraud is detected, the Committee will order the police station concerned to register the case. In reality, however, the land fraud committee is sitting quietly even as the police stations are themselves registering the cases and investigating them in violation of the rules mentioned in the Government Order.
