Trivedi: People of certain community involved in forging papers to grab land

Trivedi has ordered a primary investigation into the 628 cases while 260 others —amounting to land measuring 1,900 bighas at a market value of Rs 200 crore — have been served notices after being held liable for action.

Trivedi has also ordered an examination of revenue records for the last five years.

The release quotes Trivedi as saying, “People of a certain community have been involved in creating forged documents to grab lands… It has also come to the notice of the administration that they receive funding in order to become fake farmers. Such elements have also turned lands belonging to temples in their names… The state government will not spare such elements. It is unfortunate that they do not even spare lands belonging to temples.”

“In Vansar village, the administrator deleted the name of Prannath Mahadev during the sale and showed a purchase… In the holy month of Shravan, the person who has usurped this Mahadev temple land, will not be spared… Gujarat government will not spare anyone who tries to usurp or stake a claim on any land belonging to any religious place of worship or agricultural purpose,” the release added.

The release cites a case from Matar, where land belonging to a person of one religious faith was willed to a person of another faith.

The release also states that the government will prosecute the ‘wrongdoer’ of another case where the land belonging to a person of one caste was “usurped” by a member of another caste.

Similarly, the release also cites a case from Rudani village in Mehmadabad taluka where the nephew of a woman from a minority community usurped her property by forging documents to prove that the similar-sounding names of the landowner and her sister belonged to “one person”. The release states that the state government will prosecute the sister, who usurped the land property as well as her son, whose name was ‘maliciously entered’ into the records.

The release quotes Trivedi further as saying, “The state should beware fake farmers. The state will initiate a stern action against such farmers and we are keeping a watch on them. Those who reap the benefits of government schemes meant for farmers by posing as farmers on fake documents will be punished severely. The lands of the fake farmers will be taken over by the government.”

Trivedi also warned officials that if they are found guilty of being party to the manipulation of revenue records and the creation of forged documents, the officials will also be punished.

The revenue minster said that the examination of land records of various villages of talukas across the district had revealed several cases where manipulations were made to records of persons having similar names.

Trivedi also said that the manipulations could be a result of “a mistake or a bad intention” of the administration, which is a subject of departmental
inquiry.

Trivedi did not respond to calls and text messages, seeking a comment, on Saturday.