Clearly, this officer is not from KIADB

At a time when the series of land scams has shed light on the nexus between politicians and bureaucrats, notably in the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board
(KIADB), here is a case of a top Revenue officer in the district who has saved tens of acres of government land from going into the hands of the unscrupulous.

Meet Basavakalyan Revenue Division Assistant Commissioner H Prassana, who has not only saved valuable government land being taken over by encroachers, but brought them and their collaborators in the department to book.

According to documents in possession of Deccan Herald, Prassana detected three major cases of fraud under Karnataka Land Revenue Act (KLRA) 1961 wherein key government land allotted to ineligible persons who produced forged land records claiming their right to it.

The land in question related to different survey numbers in Bhalki taluk of Basavakalyan Revenue Division (BRD) which comprises of 335 villages and 104 gram panchayat's in three taluks.

In survey number no 144 in Khanapur village, four acres of land allotted to one Ganapathi Sangshetty.

Veersangappa was allotted 1.06 acre of land in  survey no 93 in Halbarga village and 4.38 acres in survey number 125 in Tegumpur. Mallappa got 1.1 acres of land in survey no 130/a, in Ghorchincholi village of the taluk.  

In above cases 'C form' 'sagvalike chiti' (land rights) were issued to ineligible beneficiaries and wrong entries of claims were entered in to 'C form'. The land measures 11 acres and 14 guntas.

A detailed inquiry by the Assistant Commissioner revealed fudging of records, and he directed authorities to book criminal cases against beneficiaries and department officials.
On Thursday, the authorities lodged criminal cases in Dhanura and Katak Chincholi police stations in this connection against both the  ‘beneficiaries’ and the department officials including two Shirasthedar, two village accountants and two retired revenue inspectors accused for violation of KLR Act under Section 192 (a).

Tahsildar under scanner

The Bhalki Tahsildar too is under the scanner for not verying the records before issuing 'C form' to beneficiary in survey number no 144 of Khanapur village, which is valued in lakhs of rupees as it faces towards inter-State high way Zaheerabad-Nanded road, 16 km from the city.

Prassana’s vigilance has enabled authorities of Bidar Revenue Division to recover and repossess 107.06 acres of land where prima facie violations of KLR Act 1961 Sections 79 (A) and (B) came to notice.

KLR Act Section 79 (A) lays down that non-agriculturists having more than Rs two lakh annual income are not eligible to purchase agriculture land. Besides Section 79 (B) specifies, institution any or group of persons were not entitled to purchase agriculture land.

But such alleged violations came to notice in villages like Dhumansur, Shamtabad, Gadvanthi of Humanabad taluk and Humanabad town also. Khanapur, Beri (k) villages in Bhalki taluk and Bhalki town, and similar violations found in villages like Gandur, Kherda (b) Tadola in Basavakalyan taluk as per records.

Authorities have also recovered 24.25 acres in land Nirna, Mustapur villages of Humanabad taluk, Tripranth village in Basavakalyan taluk, Halbarga, Malchapur villages of Bhalki taluk which had been acquired illegally in violation of the Karnataka Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe Act (KSCST). So far Bidar Revenue Division had recovered total 142.45 acres of land. Rights of land worth crores of rupees has been re-transferred in the name of the Government of Karnataka.

Asked what steps had been taken to prevent such frauds in future, Prassana said officials have been instructed to present before Assistant Commissioner all relevant documents with regard to ‘C forms’.