The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered three separate cases in connection with the ₹25,000-crore “Roshni” land scam, following the Jammu & Kashmir High Court’s directive to probe the alleged role of public servants and others in grabbing large tracts of government land.
Earlier this month, the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, also known as the Roshni Act, was declared null and void, after the Court termed it unconstitutional and unsustainable.
The High Court issued the directions on October 9 for the CBI to take over the investigation in the cases earlier instituted by the then Vigilance Organisation in Jammu, now known as Anti-Corruption Bureau. Bansi Lal Gupta, a Jammu-based businessman, has been named as an accused in one FIR. Officials of the Jammu Development Authority are also under the scanner.
The first case alleges that the Revenue Department officials in Jammu extended undue benefits upon the illegal occupants by intentionally ignoring the provisions of the Roshni Act and the associated rules, conferring ownership rights to some undeserving persons and therefore, caused huge monetary loss to the exchequer.
“It was alleged that the purpose of the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership Rights to the Occupants) Act, 2001, i.e. generation of revenue for undertaking developmental works in the State, was defeated,” said the agency.
In the second case, unknown Revenue officials of Samba have been accused of committing a similar offence. “It was further alleged that in many cases, ownership rights over the State land were conferred in favour of the individuals who were not having the possession in their respective names in the revenue records,” said the CBI.
The FIR also alleges that the rates were not fixed by the price fixation committee, as per the provisions of the Act and in many cases were not remitted to the government treasury.
The third case names Mr. Gupta for allegedly conspiring with unknown government officials to get the ownership rights to a land parcel measuring five kanal and two marlas. The accused illegally regularised the possession without any entry in the revenue record and issued a no-objection certificate in favour of the beneficiary for the construction of a commercial building on the land in question.
Observing that it was a “loot to own” policy, the High Court had in its order said: “That these looters could motivate a legislation to facilitate their nefarious design, by itself speaks about their insidious and deep penetration into the corridors of power and authority; about the level and scale of their influence at all levels and suggests involvement of all those who mattered including in propounding and implementation of the policy.”
The order said: “There exist glaring instances of State lands being illegally vested by under valuation of the land. In a large number of cases, the State lands stand vested without payment of any amount which is completely illegal and void. Tthe large tracts of State lands vested under the Roshni Act, 2001 and those under encroachment must be retrieved in accordance with law,” it said.
By the alleged illegal working of the government functionaries, out of the actual transfer of around 3,48,200 kanals of land under the Act, the major portion of over 3,40,100 kanals had been transferred free of cost as agricultural land, the High Court observed.
