Haryana government names 370 ‘corrupt’ patwaris, their 170 middlemen, orders action against them

The highest number of “corrupt” patwaris have been identified in Kaithal district, 46, followed by 41 in Sonipat and 36 in Mahendragarh. The highest number of middlemen have been identified in Gurgaon, 26, followed by 20 in Mahendragarh and 15 each in Palwal, Rewari and Sonipat.

According to official sources, the state revenue department currently has 1,378 patwaris, while 1,313 posts are lying vacant. There will be no shortage of revenue officials after the recently recruited 2,600 patwaris complete their training, sources added, saying they will be posted to other departments too.

Sources in the revenue department suggested that the report was prepared after taking feedback from intelligence officials in the field. Apart from explaining the modus operandi of each of the tainted patwaris, their castes and the period of posting at the current assignment have also been mentioned. In some cases, the mobile numbers of the patwaris and their middlemen, apart from other details like their native village, have also been mentioned.

For example, the government said that a patwari posted at Ambala Cantt for nearly 18 months takes bribes after harassing the public for land mutation, land measurement, rectification of the record and preparing maps for agriculture land partition. The report also mentions that an Ambala city resident takes bribes for him. Land registration, land demarcation, attestation of fard (land record) and work related to the girdawari (record of cultivation) have been quoted as the other tasks for which bribes were sought.

On a patwari at Tosham, the report has mentioned that the revenue official keeps the land mutation pending in cases where he has not been paid a bribe. However, according to the report, he has no associate to collect the bribe.

The report claims that a patwari at Charkhi Dadri charges Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for land mutation while a few other patwaris from the same district charge Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 for the same work. The report also mentions that a patwari in Faridabad district charges Rs 500-Rs 700 just to locate old revenue files.

According to the report, the bribe rates for tehsil works are much higher in Gurgaon district where the identified patwaris charge Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for land mutation, fard and land maps. Most of these patwaris in Gurgaon have a middleman to accept the bribe, the report says.

In Jhajjar, the tainted patwaris allegedly charge up to Rs 10,000 for rectifying a mistake in land records. According to the report, a few patwaris in Jind district are also indulging in tampering with land records.

Sources in the revenue department said that most of the tainted officials mentioned in the report are posted in rural areas whereas high-value deals take place for the land which is now part of the cities.