Hyderabad: The 11 reports submitted to the state government by the Task Force on Land headed by retired IAS officer S.K. Sinha have assumed great significance in the wake of the Miyapur land scam.
The committee was constituted in December 2014 to probe land encroachments in the state.
The first report was submitted in July 2016 and the last report in December 2016. These reports have been buried for nearly a year now.
Mr Sinha exposed encroachment of nearly 15,000 acres of assigned and Bhoodan lands during his 24-month long investigation.
He sought an extension for the committee by a few months to investigate jagir lands, but there was no response from the state government.
The 11 reports exposed the role of highly influential persons in grabbing government land. The reports revealed the names of MLAs, MPs, former MLAs, collectors, deputy collectors, revenue divisional officers, mandal revenue officers, sub-registrars and businessmen who have usurped thousands of acres of land.
The government did not make the report public, though it had promised to do so.
“Sub-registrars are being arrested or transferred now. They are not the only ones involved in these irregularities. We have found officials right from VROs to MRO, RDO, revenue inspectors, deputy collectors, collectors, politicians, businessmen etc, who have usurped lands. In fact, we have named all of them in our reports. The report is now with the government and unfortunately it is gathering dust,” Mr Sinha told this newspaper.
“Had I been given a few more months extension, I would have submitted a report on Miyapur and other jagir land scams that came to light recently. I appointed six translators to examine jagir land documents (in Urdu, Arabic and Persian) before my tenure ended in December 2016,” Mr Sinha added.
He says senior IAS officials are misleading the government on the Miyapur scam.
“They are misleading them by stating that government lands can be reclaimed by declaring registered documents null and void. It cannot be done like that. Certain legal procedures need to be followed,” he said, adding that the bureaucrats are telling the government that jagir lands are government lands.
“Not all jagir lands are government lands. If the government still thinks so, it is committing a big blunder,” Mr Sinha said.
