Railways complains to Lokayukta against official over prime land

The Divisional Manager of the South Western Railway has filed a complaint with the Upa Lokayukta against the Joint Director of Land Records (JDLR) for keeping a land dispute pending for over three years.

The JDLR is accused of trying to favour a private person who claims rights over the railway property worth Rs 30 crore in Vasanthnagar, opposite Cantonment Railway Station.

The complaint stated that the land (CTS No 1047), acquired during 1900-1936, was also carried in the Railway Land Plan as reflected in the 1936 resurvey of railway land. “The records reveal that the property was acquired at Cantonment and the Military Station and the railway quarters still exist on the land. Earlier, the Railways was owned by the then Maharaja of Mysore and was transferred in 1948 under the Mysore Act – The Retroceded Area Act 1948. The dispute over the property started in 1993, when Vazeer Ahmed filed an appeal before the then JDLR claiming that his property is included in the CTS number,” the complaint stated.

The JDLR had dismissed the appeal in 1995. Ahmed had filed an appeal before the Director of Survey Settlement and Land Records and even that was dismissed in 1996.

“Thereafter, a suit was filed with an application seeking temporary injunction. However, both the applications as well the main suit were dismissed by the Civil Court holding that Ahmed did not prove his title to the property. In 2009, Ahmed filed a writ petition before the High Court and in the order passed in 2011, the JDLR order was set aside and the matter remitted back with a direction to appear before the JDLR,” the complaint added.

The matter has thus been before the JDLR since April 2011, but an interim order had been passed for enquiry.

“The Railways claims that it had filed an application before the JDLR against the interim order. However, this application and the main application are pending before the JDLR. Instead of disposing of the appeal, the JDLR has sent the matter to the enquiry officer who has been accused of changing the entries against which the Railways had filed an appeal. The JDLR has kept the application pending, causing loss to the Railways.”
DH News Service