Punjab: Missing land acquisition records of 1963 found in double-relief case

Punjab: The discovery of crucial land acquisition records from 1963 is expected to trigger a new round of investigations against several revenue officials in the alleged double compensation case related to the Dharamkot-Shahkot stretch of National Highway 703. This development comes after the Vigilance Bureau registered an FIR against Moga Additional Deputy Commissioner Charumita, former Public Works Department (PWD) Executive Engineer VK Kapoor, and Circle Revenue Officer Maninder Singh. They are accused of approving compensation worth Rs 3.7 crore in 2019 without verifying the actual acquisition made by the PWD (B&R) in 1963. During a hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC), the state government had stated that the 1963 acquisition files were missing. On September 12, the Deputy Commissioner of Moga submitted an affidavit stating that the records—except the Gazette notification, the non-payment register, and the Misalband—were “not available.”
In its orders of October 29 and November 7, the court had expressed concern over the department’s “strange behavior” in failing to produce any records, and even warned that if the documents were not traced, it would direct an independent agency to file an FIR against senior officials of the Revenue Department, PWD, Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) Moga, and NHAI. However, on November 13, a few days after ADC Charumita’s suspension, the Moga district administration retrieved records confirming that the land in question had been acquired in 1963—raising suspicions that some people may have illegally claimed compensation again in 2019, claiming the same land was “newly acquired.”
Senior officials now say that the recovery of the file has “completely changed the course of the case” and could reveal a major nexus involving revenue staff who handled demarcation, verification, and land-ownership records for years. The High Court has already addressed the possibility of deliberate concealment of records and manipulation of previous demarcation reports, so the discovery of the missing file is expected to accelerate the investigation. The Vigilance Bureau is now investigating whether several landowners received compensation twice—first in 1963 and then in 2014. Officials said the next phase could involve questioning several revenue officials—both former and current—as the affidavit filed by the Moga DC in court officially certifying the disappearance of the records has now resurfaced.