M A I N   N E W S

Land bought by Bajwa was shamlat deh: Probe
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 21
The Punjab Government’s inquiry into a land deal by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa in Bharonjian village of Mohali has established that the land bought by him was indeed “shamlat deh”, which cannot be bought or sold as its ownership wrests with the panchayat.

The inquiry has been conducted by a two-member committee headed by Financial Commissioner (Revenue) NS Kang and its final report will be submitted to the government tomorrow.

Sources said the inquiry conducted by the government was more of a “fact-finding” effort to identify those responsible for the sale and purchase of 108 bigha and three biswa “shamlat deh” land in Bharonjian.

The inquiry also establishes the role of some officials of the Revenue Department, who aided the transaction and transferred the land in Bajwa’s name.

The authorities went through land records to see how many times did that land change hands, in spite of three orders clarifying its title as “shamlat deh” (including an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that ordered a stay on the distribution of this shamlat land among various shareholders, and upheld that the land was shamlat deh).

The land was reportedly bought by a real estate company floated by Bajwa for Rs 2.98 crore, though the company had a paid-up capital of just Rs 1 lakh! The company, PCB Real Estate, in which Partap Singh Bajwa and his wife and MLA from Qadian, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, are directors, has allegedly bought the land by making cash transactions, as there is no mention of payments being effected by using other financial instruments, in the sale deed registry.

The inquiry also takes into account the initial probe conducted by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Mohali. That inquiry was conducted following objections by the Auditor-General office in December last year. In that report, Bajwa’s company was accused of having evaded stamp duty to the tune of Rs 45 lakh, by misrepresenting facts on the land title.

The recent inquiry has also examined how the registry of the sale deed can be effected although Bajwa did not file the mandatory self-declaration forms, wherein he was supposed to declare how he proposed to use that land after becoming its owner.

Under the scanner A two-member committee headed by Financial Commissioner (Revenue) NS Kang conducted an inquiry into a land deal by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa in Bharonjian village of Mohali. The final inquiry report will be submitted to the government on Friday. The findings The land in question was indeed “shamlat deh” and cannot be bought or sold as its ownership wrests with the panchayat The land was bought by PCB Real Estate, a company floated by Bajwa for Rs 2.98 crore, though the company had a paid-up capital of just Rs 1 lakh Partap Singh Bajwa and his wife and MLA from Qadian, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, are directors of the company The land was bought by making cash transactions