Succumbing to public outcry that attempts were being made to shield the ruling party leaders involved in the Ghangapatna land scam, the State Government on Thursday ordered Crime Branch inquiry into the encroachment of 76 acres of Government land on the outskirts of the capital city here. The probe agency has been asked to submit an inquiry report within next two months.
Virtually rejecting a demand for CBI probe into the land scam, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered the Crime Branch probe basing on the inquiry of the District Collector, Khurda and the Tehsildar, Bhubaneswar. These two had been earlier asked to probe the matter immediately after it surfaced and submit their report.
Most pertinently, the Chief Minster also asked the Revenue Department to prepare a draft on the “Prevention of land Grabbing Bill” with stringent provisions against land grabbing within a month for consideration of the Cabinet, said a notification issued by the Revenue Department.
The Chief Minister asked the Revenue Department authorities to place the concerned Tehsildar, Additional Tehsildar , Sub-Registrar and Revenue Inspector under suspension and initiate departmental and criminal proceedings against them for their nexus in the fraudulent transaction.
He also asked the Forest and Environment Department authority to lodge FIRs immediately against the persons who constructed a road on forest land in Ghangapatna, apart from taking action for violation of Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The Chief Minister also told the Revenue Department that it was necessary to fix criminal liability for the fraud.
According to the notification, the Bhubaneswar Tehsildar has been asked to restore the Government land which was transacted fraudulently and now under use in violation of the lease conditions. The inquiry report of the Khurda Collector and the Bhubaneswar Tehsildar squarely accused the Sub-Registrar, then Tehsildar and Additional Tehsildar as guilty of facilitating the land grab. It said the Sub-Registrar who registered the documents in violation relating to the illegal transaction should be suspended and proceeded against for major penalty. The Tehsildar and Additional Tehsildar who allowed mutation should also be suspended, they had recommended.
The Opposition political parties, particularly the State BJP and various organisations, have been demanding a CBI probe into the land scam in which, they claim, the Chief Minister is directly involved and has been trying to shield the influential persons and ruling party leaders.
They criticised the Chief Minister for ordering Crime Branch probe. It is a dilatory tactic to save the image of the BJD Government, they said.
Reacting to the announcement of Crime Branch inquiry into the land scam, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra alleged that the move was well calculated to shield a Minister and the BJD MP involved in the land grab. Considering the scam and crime committed by the ruling party leaders in the know of the Chief Minister, the matter should be investigated by the CBI, he demanded.
Dubbing the order of Crime Branch probe as “unfortunate”, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra sought to know how a servant can probe into the illegality committed by his lord.