2 surveyors suspended for fake podi of govt land worth Rs 50 cr

The enquiry into the missing records of gomala land in survey number 47 at Adigarakallahalli in Anekal taluk of Bengaluru Urban district has resulted in the suspension of two surveyors for creating podi in favour of private persons without original documents.

In February 2016, DH had reported about sites being allotted by BHEL Employees’ House Building Co-operative Society (HBCS) in survey number 47, which has 103.32 acres of gomala land. BHEL Employees’ HBCS, through its contract with Lion Estates and Properties owned by JD(S) MLC, C R Manohar, had acquired 67.08 acres in survey number 47 in Adigarakallahalli. Many sites were formed in survey number 47 by creating new survey numbers.

Based on a complaint that surveyors had allowed creation of podi to private persons without an original grant certificate or akarband, the Department of Survey, Settlement and Land Records had initiated an enquiry.

The enquiry revealed that two surveyors, Girish and R Arun, were responsible for causing the loss of government land worth over Rs 50 crore. The order of suspension issued by the Commissioner of Survey, Settlement and Land Records stated that both the officials had shown dereliction of duty as per the Karnataka Government Employees (conduct) Rules.

“The surveyors have created podi in favour of private persons by mentioning fictitious document numbers. The private persons have made huge money by selling this land to various people,” the order stated.

A few members of the society had noticed that an extract of RTC of survey number 47, obtained on December 8, 2015, showed the extent of gomala land as 103.32 acres. However, within a span of two weeks, on December 22, 2015 the pahani of survey number 47 showed the total extent of government gomala land as just 24.23 acres.

Anxious members of the society had filed a writ petition before the High Court, and the Deputy Commissioner, Bengaluru Urban V Shankar formed a committee to look into the irregularities in the entire land in survey number 47. Shankar said the committee was expected to submit its report soon.

“The podi was not done in a single day pertaining to the land in this survey number, but over a period of time since 1978. However, it is also found that there are no records available for the remaining 24.23 acres of government land. Once the committee report is ready, the same will be submitted to the government,” he said.