19 acres of govt land given to private parties: Moudgil

IAS officer Munish Moudgil, who was transferred from his post as Commissioner for Survey, Settlement and Land Records, has alleged that senior officials in the department gave away over 19 acres of government land in Jigani to private parties, causing losses to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.

Moudgil, who was posted as the director-general of Administrative Reforms and Training Institute (ATI) in Mysuru on Wednesday, had written to the Principal Secretary of Revenue Department and Anti-Corruption Bureau on September 7.

He said that former deputy commissioner of Bengaluru (Urban) district, V Shankar, the then assistant commissioner of Bengaluru South division Harish Naik and the then tahsildar C Mahadevaiah were responsible for “criminal breach of trust”.

The case dates back to 2017. The three have been accused of classifying 19 acres and 10 guntas of government land (‘B Kharab’) at survey number 183 in Jigani hobli of Anekal Taluk as cultivable against the rules of the survey manual.

Senior IAS officer V Shankar, who retired from service recently, rubbished the allegations and said they will not stand the scrutiny of law. “The entire process was carried out based on the details given by the joint director of land records. All the files and their references can be found in the order,” he said.