A Ludhiana court had on April 5 disposed of a cancellation report filed by the Vigilance Bureau in the Rs 59 crore Hoshiarpur land scam case. The court of additional district and sessions judge Ajit Atri disposed the case with directions for further investigations. The court, in its detailed order, had pointed out at least 13 points for rejecting the cancellation report, and had stated that the probe conducted thus far falls short of the standard for completing an investigation. The court had also observed that while filing the cancellation report, the investigating agency had mainly relied upon the reply filed by accused, Anand Sagar Sharma, and on the report of the local commissioner. The land scam was exposed in June 2016 in which it was allegedly blatant irregularities were committed by the competent authority appointed for acquiring land for four laning project from Jalandhar district to Hoshiarpur. The court has highlighted specific allegations of criminal conspiracy among the accused, which led to a loss to the government. The court said that perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the investigations conducted in the FIR are not in consonance with each other. The detailed order points out that under Section 173 CrPC (report of police officer on completion of investigations) reasons for the conclusions that were reached by the IO (investigating officer) need to be detailed. In present case, summary proceedings to reach at a conclusion without investigation of material aspects had taken place. The court order (a copy of which is available with The Indian Express) pointed out that the investigation has not been conducted on material aspects of the case, which included whether any permission was sought from the municipal committee, Hoshiarpur/administration regarding the development of the colonies and what is the exact time of the development of colony if any? In Hoshiarpur, the agricultural land was to be acquired for four-laning of a highway in 2016. However, before the National Highway Authority of Indian (NHAI) could acquire it directly from farmers, some people, in connivance with competent authority for land acquisition, purchased the land parcels from farmers at very low rates and changed its land use from agriculture to commercial and carved out residential colonies in no time. This in turn helped them get a huge compensation from the NHAI. The scam was exposed in June 2016. Two SITs of VB conducted investigations in the case, with both arriving at different conclusions. The court order further said that whether proper procedure for the change in the nature of the land had been followed before issuance of the variation certificates and when the change in the nature of land was applied in each such case and when the necessary procedure was followed in each case of change of the nature of the land ought to be investigated. Whether the owner of the land moved any written application before the SDM with regard to change in nature of the land or not too had to be determined. The order also says that it should be probed if the land in question has been sold or purchased after publication of notification for acquisition of the land and to what extent the amount of compensation was increased on change of nature of the land on sale/purchase of land in question after the publication of notification. The investigation report is also silent on that how many persons the compensation was disbursed and at what rate, who purchased land after the publication of notification and what were the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Road transport and Highways regarding the aspect of sale/ purchase of the land during the process of acquisition? Court also asked that responsibilities of the CALA (Competent Authority -Land Acquisition) regarding the issue of sale/ purchase of the land and whether CALA carried out his responsibilities as outlined in the Union Ministry of Road transport and Highways guidelines? The court also questioned whether the change in nature of land in question had influenced the rates of compensation, if yes, then how much loss was caused by this to the state? Rajiv Vashishth, an RTI activist, who had exposed this scam in 2016, said that the court has raised all relevant points that need to be investigated properly and it will bring more accused under the scanner.
