Six officials, including two district in-charges, have been found guilty in investigating a land scam involving a sub-registrar accused of causing crores of rupees in losses to the state government through power of attorney in Gautam Budh Nagar. The SIT has sent a charge sheet to the officials, giving them 15 days to respond. The investigation also aims to determine the extent of land transfers through power of attorney. The government is considering recovering the losses from the officers found guilty.Background of the ScamA scam involving the land mafia and registry officials in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar was uncovered in December 2023. The government established an SIT to investigate and halt power of attorney transfers in these two districts.The scheme involved stealing stamps and transferring large amounts of land for a nominal fee. The scam was exploited by several people, including land mafia Yashpal Tomar and officials who received hefty bribes. Over 11,000 power of attorney were registered in Gautam Buddha Nagar, with individuals from other states, such as Delhi and Haryana, engaging in land transactions using power of attorney.Suspension of OfficialsIn Ghaziabad, suspension action was taken against four sub-registrars. However, questions were raised due to no action taken against the officials of Gautam Budh Nagar until recently. The charge sheet has now been sent to Noida sub-registrar I K Yashwant Kumar Singh, Noida sub-registrar II Kailash Nath Singh, Noida sub-registrar III in-charge Vikas Verma, Babu Omkar Verma, who was in-charge of Noida sub-registrar II, along with another sub-registrar Alok, former Jewar sub-registrar.Jewar Sub-Registrar Involved in Land ScamAlok Kumar, the Jewar sub-registrar, had done a crores scam. The process of land acquisition for the Noida airport is ongoing. While being the Jewar sub-registrar, Alok Kumar got 10 to 50 square meters of agricultural land registered, despite the District Magistrates ban. Thousands of such registries were done with the land mafia and some brokers. While no farming can be done on 10 to 50 sqm, Alok Kumar caused a loss of six to eight crore rupees to the state government.Power of Attorney RulesUnder the rules, if a person gets a power of attorney, they should be a district resident or have land in the district in their name. A power of attorney will be considered valid only if one of the two conditions is fulfilled and void if these rules are not followed.Use of Power of Attorney in Cutting Illegal PlottingPower of Attorney is mostly used in cutting illegal plotting. Colonisers and land mafia get GPA done by the farmers. Based on that, the registry of the plots in the colony is done in the name of the buyers. The land mafia absconds after cutting the colony. After that, the farmer gets trapped when the administration or authority takes action on the illegal colony.The land scam in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad has exposed the nexus between the land mafia and registry department officials. The guilty officials who caused losses to the state government must be held accountable and punished accordingly. The use of power of attorney in illegal.
