Revenue officers penalised for missing record of Rs 100 crore land

NEW DELHI: CIC today slapped maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 on officials of Delhi Government for not furnishing information about a land plot worth Rs 100 crore despite orders from seniors, claiming that the records have gone missing from Revenue Trial Court.

Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu imposed the penalty on CPIO of SDM office Manish Jain and former CPIO Sham Chand asking their offices to deduct the penalty from their salary and pension respectively.

The case relates to a three-year-old RTI application filed by Harish Tyagi which has not been responded to by Jain and Chand despite repeated instructions from their seniors and the Commission.

Tyagi has claimed that his father was joint bhoomidar with Ramphal of around 20 bighas of land in Delhi which is worth around Rs 100 crore.

"He alleged that Revenue Authorities put forward the files alleging that he surrendered the status of bhoomidar on June 03, 1977 in favour of Ramphal. The appellant was seeking certified copy of the 'surrender' letter, which was not furnished.

"Appellant needs this document to examine the witness before the Revenue Court, where Ramphal is claiming to be an absolute owner. Since 2012, January the appellant is waiting for the information," Acharyulu said.

Tyagi claimed if the file was really missing, it was not an accident but deliberate strategy to deprive him of his ownership share in the land.

"If file was lost inadvertently or for any other reason, nothing could have prevented SDM from inquiring into immediately and taking quick decision to lodge FIR and reconstruct the file," he said.