Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has decided to appoint a three-member committee to take further action into the land scam that took place in Vizag over the last few years and for which the government had appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
A 300-page report submitted by the SIT to the government was tabled in the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.
After a detailed discussion on the report, the Cabinet decided to appoint a committee with the secretaries of law, revenue and General Administration to take further action against the government officials and private persons who were named in the report.
The SIT has found prima facie involvement of at least 49 government officials, including a few IAS officers and Grade-I officials in the land scam that rocked Vizag. These IAS officials include those who worked as collectors and joint collectors of Vizag district. The SIT had also mentioned the involvement of a Srikakulam-based senior politician who was a minister in both the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinets.
The committee will look into the aspects of booking criminal cases against the erring government officials and also possibilities of cancelling of registration of certain land tracts.
The SIT had recommended action towards three former collectors and four joint collectors of Vizag, 10 Divisional Revenue Officers and 14 Revenue Divisional Officers, a few more government officials and 50 private persons.
The land scam took place in transactions of 1,229 acres of land belonging to the government, 751 acres of assigned land and 109 acres belonging to former servicemen.
