In the wake of the Committee on Public Accounts taking objection to the delay in recovery of encroached government land and action against officials involved in the fraud, the Revenue Department on Monday issued a circular directing all the Deputy Commissioners to review pending cases in 15 days and take steps to recover such land.
The 15-point circular issued by the department states that criminal action must be initiated against the encroachers and officials who colluded with them. The circular states that under provisions of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, officials creating false documents to favour such encroachments can face jail term up to three years and hefty penalty.
N. Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary of Revenue Department, told The Hindu that across the State 1.5 lakh acres of encroached government land needs to be recovered. In Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts, 20,000 acres of such land needs to be recovered.
“The circular has been issued directing the Deputy Commissioners to initiate recovery along with taking action against revenue inspectors, tahsildars, assistant commissioners, and others who had collude d with the enroachers,” said the official.
The Deputy Commissioners have been directed to suspend officials found to be prima facie involved in fraudulent practices of creating false records and file criminal case against them.
In May 2018, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) made observations on inaction of authorities in acting against encroaches, allocation of government land, frauds in leasing of government land, and legalising encroached land. The Committee on Public Accounts took strong objections on the delay in recovery of encroached land in two meeting held on January 7 and 14.
