Cabinet Minister sells panchayat land to sons for a song

Cabinet Minister sells panchayat land to sons for a song
VIKRAM JIT SINGH

CHANDIGARH, SEPT 13: Punjab Cabinet Minister for Rural Development & Panchayats (RDP) Nirmal Singh Kahlon has chosen to set an extremely controversial example. Last month, the Minister used his discretionary powers to sanction the sale of 2 kanals and 12 marlas of panchayat land at throwaway prices. The land had been illegally occupied by the minister's two sons and nephew in his native village, Dadujod, in Fatehgarh Churian Block of Gurdaspur district.

According to reports put forward by Gurdaspur District Development & Panchayat Officer Gurdeep Singh, to the RDP Department, Ravikaran Singh and Shivkaran Singh, sons of the Minister and Sandeep Singh (nephew) had built houses which had encroached upon 2 kanals and 12 marlas respectively. The DDPO recommended to the Department that in view of the long occupation of the land by the three persons and the lengthy litigation needed to evict them, the Department should under Rule 12 (IV) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964, sell the land at Collector rates. The file was sent for the sanction of Kahlon, who is the competent authority, being the custodian of panchayat property.

The file was duly processes at the Chandigarh HQs of the RDP Department and was signed by Principal Secretary J.S. Kesar, Director V.K. Janjua, Minister of State for RDP Sujan Singh and of course Kahlon himself on August 8. Interestingly, the file omits Minister's surname while mentioning Ravikaran and Shivkaran as the sons of Nirmal Singh.

Kesar and Janjua both claim they do not remember the case. But Kesar says that land is never sold to private parties and if ever sold, has to be soldbe at market rates under prices fixed by the District Land Price Fixation Committee. In the Kahlon case, the land has been sold at the rate of Rs 1,000 per marla which works out to Rs 40,000 for the two kanals owned by the Ministers' sons. This rate is at least half the market price.

With nearly 40 per cent of panchayat lands under unauthorised occupation in Punjab, Kahlon's orders have also drawn flak for favouring a select few. Under the Rules, land sold for residential purposes must be auctioned by the authorities.

When contacted, Kahlon said that he had set an example to bolster the revenues of the panchayats. ``While people neither vacate the panchayat land nor do they pay for it, I thought I must set an example to at least pay for the panchayat land under occupation. We have deposited Rs 40,000,'' said Kahlon. However, Kahlon admitted that he had not sanctioned any more such cases. ``People are just not willing to come forward,'' he said.