61 fraudulent registries uncovered at Sohna tehsil, 4 booked

Around 61 property registrations were carried out at Sohna tehsil in a fraudulent manner on August 20 and 21 last year, according to a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request. Out of these, seven registries were carried out on August 20 while 54 registries out of 57 done on August 21, 2019. An FIR has been registered against the Sub Registrar, Junior Programmer and Computer operator of the Sohna tehsil at City Sohna police station on September 2, 2020.

The revelations were made in reply to an RTI, filed by city-based activist Ramesh Yadav in August 2019. The reply from the district revenue department was provided on August 20 this year.

Subsequently, an inquiry into the matter was conducted by the sub divisional magistrate (SDM), Sohna. A report was sent to deputy commissioner (DC)  of Gurugram on August 27 last year for action against involved officials and it recommended the termination of junior programmer Vikas Mohan and computer operator Yashpal. For one year after that, the report remained pending in the DC office.

During investigation, it was found that a large number of registries were executed at this tehsil even though the buyers and sellers didn’t appear at the office as mandated by the Punjab Land Revenue Act. Their documents and photos were received outside the tehsil office and later on fed into the system with the help of a pen drive, and then, the registry was executed. Even the signatures of buyers and sellers on the stamp paper were taken outside the tehsil office.

According to the norms, the seller, buyer and two witnesses need to appear in person at the tehsil office and get their photographs clicked for the registry.

“To ensure registries are executed within the tehsil office, SDM on August 19 last year put a poster at the registry office in Sohna and directed officials to take pictures of buyers and sellers in front of the poster and ensure that the poster remains visible in the background. During inspection the SDM found irregularities on 61 registries at Sohna tehsil. He found that the registration of 61 properties was not done at Sohna tehsil office. The corrupt officials at the officer had carried out these registries elsewhere,” Yadav said.

He further alleged that Sub Registrar, Junior Programmer Vikas Mohan and Computer operator Yashpal and few other employees of the tehsil are behind the scam.

“These officials along with a local property dealer had done registries frequently. The deputy commissioner, Gurugram has also sent his report to SDM Sohna and recommended necessary action against the registrar and entire staff of Sohna tehsil,” Yadav added.

“Employees who have carried out such violations are liable for disciplinary action and punishment will be given as per the civil services rules,” said a senior revenue department official on the condition of anonymity.

“In the FIR, no officials were named in and only their designations were mentioned despite the fact that the investigation report had highlighted their names,” alleged Yadav.

Following similar allegations in other parts of the state, the Haryana government had banned the registration of property deeds from July 22 to August 31 stating that it wanted to introduce a robust system to curb illegal property registrations.