The State government, which started a series of knee-jerk actions after the Miyapur land scam got exposed, had been sitting on the report of the Task Force on Land for almost a year, which revealed several startling instances of thousands of acres of government land in and around Hyderabad being grabbed. It recommended urgent measures to retrieve such grabbed government land.
Questions are also being raised as to why the office of Chief Commissionerate of Land Administration (CCLA) is vacant for almost two years. In case of Office of Inspector General of Registration and Stamps, it has been vacant for the last three years. If the TRS government is indeed determined in sparing no one involved in the past and ongoing land scams, it should have ensured that these two offices were filled. They are the only offices which are responsible for management of all lands in the State.
The State government, which had been blaming the legacy of governments in the combined State for all the ills including land scams, has not done any better in curbing the scourge.
CCLA and IG (Registration & Stamps) are two important posts that deserve undivided attention of a full-time officer. It is time the TRS government walked the talk, retired revenue department officials say.
When the Telangana government constituted Task Force on Land headed by retired Chief Commissioner of Land Administration S.K. Sinha in 2014 to go into the root of misuse of government lands, one hoped for concrete and decisive measures to put an end to the government land encroachments.
The Committee did a thorough job and submitted as many as 11 reports on various land scams. One such scam was in respect of villages, Kollur, Survey No.191 and Osmansagar Survey No. 30. It pertained to ‘complete loot’ of about 500 acres of government land where Tahsildars and sub-registrars had been involved.
Mr. Sinha’s report, it is learnt, named one Tahsildar as entirely responsible for Kollur land scam. He was believed to be solely responsible for irregular clarification he gave in 1993 in respect of land assigned in 1969-70 which changed the nature of land from ‘Assigned to Ex-servicemen’ to ‘Assigned to Political Sufferers’ with the ulterior motive of enabling sale of such assigned lands which was not possible otherwise.
That change, sources said, made usurping of government land even more easier and did immense damage to the government lands. The Task Force report recommended that the retired officer be traced and stringent action be initiated. The report clearly named the sub registrars and others who were involved in the scam but the government is yet act upon it.
The committee’s term ended in December, 2016 and with no response from the government to its report apparently pending with the Chief Minister, it closed its office after waiting for three months.
Sources said that though the officers involved in the land scams were named in the report, some of the tainted Tahsildars were subsequently promoted to higher positions.
