Evolve method to penalise guilty, Lokayukta asks govt

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

The Haryana Lokayukta has asked the state government to evolve a method so as to fix responsibility and impose a penalty on revenue officials who deliberately delay mutation that eventually leads to dissatisfaction among people.

Lokayukta Naval Kishore Agarwal gave this recommendation to the government while deciding a complaint filed by Bohar Singh, a resident of Bagthala village in Kurukshetra.

Bohar Singh, in a complaint to the Lokayukta, had alleged that Suraj Mal, the then Tehsildar of Thanesar, and Sahab Chand, then Halqa Patwari at Bagthala village, did not take any action on his application for mutation, allegedly for want of bribe.

The complainant got registered mutation No. 2606 with the Halqa Patwari in the names of his sons Satnam Singh and Ajaib Singh in February, 2013. But the Tehsildar did not verify and sanction the mutation though Bohar Singh had met him a number of times.

Bohar Singh alleged that he had made a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, which was forwarded to the District Revenue Officer for inquiry.

The complainant in his statement before the Deputy Commissioner had alleged that even after eight months, the Tehsildar did not verify his mutation No. 2606 while he had sanctioned those from number 2607 to 2622 much earlier.

The report of the inquiry submitted by the Deputy Revenue Officer stated that only the Patwari was found liable for the lapse and disciplinary action under Rule 8 had been initiated against him.

However, after filing of the report and hearing out the complainant, the Registrar of Lokayukta found that besides the Patwari, the Kanungo and the circle revenue officer were also responsible for the delay.

The Lokayukta took serious note of the findings and said that since action had already been initiated against the official responsible for the delay and the complainant had failed to prove allegations of bribe, no further action was warranted against others.

The Lokayukta said that the delay in sanctioning of mutation affected the poor and hence a mechanism needs to be developed to punish the guilty by imposing a penalty on them.

Fixing responsibility 

• Bohar Singh, in a complaint to the Lokayukta, alleged that Suraj Mal, the then Tehsildar of Thanesar, and Sahab Chand, then Halqa Patwari at Bagthala village, did not take any action on his application for mutation, allegedly for want of bribe.
• Lokayukta Naval Kishore Agarwal recommended to the government to evolve a method so as to fix responsibility and impose a penalty on revenue officials who deliberately delay mutation.