Hindustan Times: Gurugram: Saturday,
25 July 2020.
Over 120
property registrations were carried out in Gurugram without a no-objection
certificate (NOC) from the department of town and country planning during a
part of the Covid-19 induced lockdown period between April 20 and May 4,
according to a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request.
The
issue of such illegal registrations, that violated section 7A of the Haryana
development and regulation of urban areas Act, 1975, is not new and has been
repeatedly raised by the department of town and country planning (DTCP). The
rules state that for registration of agricultural land less than two kanals,
its owners had to take an NOC from the DTCP before a sale.
Following
similar allegations in other parts of the state, the Haryana government had
banned the registration of property deeds from July 22 to August 17 starting
that it wanted to introduce a robust system to curb such malpractices.
The RTI
was filed by city-based activist Ramesh Yadav. The reply from the district
revenue department was provided on July 23.
“Taking
advantage of the lockdown, a sizeable number of property deeds of agricultural
land in controlled area were registered by the revenue authorities across the
district, he said. “Such violations have been carried out across the state
during the lockdown and the matter should be probed in detail.”
The RTI
reply stated that 128 such registrations had happened between April 20 and May
4, the period for which the request was filed. Two registries were carried out
in Chauma village, 74 in Sohna tehsil, two in Wazirpur tehsil, 10 in Qadipur
tehsil, 10 in Harsaru and 30 in Badshahpur tehsil between April 20 and May 4.
Yadav
says that a scrutiny of records after May 4 will throw up a lot more of such
registries, which will boost unauthorized colonization in the city.
“Agricultural and whatever is not licensed has been sold as small plots and
registered by revenue authorities. I have repeatedly written letters to the
government in this regard but the action of banning registries has come too
late,” he said.
Last
month, the director, town and country planning had also written to the district
revenue authorities regarding rampant registration of property deeds of small
plots without NOC. Following that, the Gurugram deputy commissioner had issued
directions and attached DTCP officials with tehsils and sub-tehsils to work in
coordination with revenue officials and prevent such registries.
Makrand
Pandurang, director, DTCP, said that the department had raised the issue
several times with the local authorities. “The illegal registration leads to development
of unauthorised colonies where people live in poor civic conditions as it has
no infrastructure. The government also loses lot of revenue in terms of
development fees. This needs to be strictly curbed and the new system is likely
to ensure this once it is implemented,” said Pandurang.
Amit
Khatri, deputy commissioner, Gurugram, who is also the head of revenue
department, said that the issue was being probed. “Employees who have carried
out such violations are liable for disciplinary action and punishment will be
given as per the civil services rules,” said Khatri. “A more robust and dynamic
property registration system will be implemented and it will reduce the human
intervention to the minimum.”
Basti
Ram, district revenue officer, did not respond to repeated phone calls and
messages seeking comment.
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