Forged land acquisition for NST
SHILLONG: The CSWO has sought the intervention of Governor KK Paul for the removal of P Naik, the Principal Secretary Urban Affairs, T Lyngwa, Secretary MUDA, and SP Mahanta, legal counsel for MUDA, in public interest since land documents related to possession of some areas under the New Shillong Township (NST) are not authentic.
CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing led a delegation of affected families of Umsawli and Mawtari (Mawlong) and met the Governor on Monday demanding the removal of the officials.
In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, Kharshiing said that the villagers residing in and around Umsawli (Mawpat) and Mawtari (Mawlong), through RTI replies, came to know the intention of the Government to create a New Shillong Township and found that the land documents have been forged and manufactured for the purpose of cheating the Government and driving the real land owners of Umsawli, Mawtari (Mawlong) village, East Khasi Hills District, out of their own land.
“We have sufficient documents to prima facie show that the people who sold their land to the Government have forged and manufactured the documents with exaggerated boundaries to dupe the Government to the tune of more than Rs 10 crore and in the process the Government ousted the innocent and helpless villagers,” Kharshiing claimed.
Kharshiing reminded that on November 8, 2013, five houses, two cowsheds and two shops were demolished by MUDA on the instruction of T Lyngwa, Secretary, MUDA. A similar demolition drive was carried out in 2012 where 4 houses were demolished, even though the people had been staying there for decades and also had registered land documents.
According to Kharshiing, the land is claimed by Unikey Kharkongor and Nearly Kharkongor, who sold the land to MUDA measuring an area of about 285 acres out of the 2372 acres. But strangely enough, the documents of the land are not authentic on various counts, she said.
Giving reasons, Kharshiing said that the deed of declaration is not supported by any valid title of the land. The boundaries too were not specified in measurements. The stamp paper date is later than the executed date which means the deal as per document was executed on 4.6.1992 while the stamp paper was bought on 5.6.1992. The back of the first page of the stamp paper wherein the forgery is visible was dated 5.6.1992, while the Judicial Magistrate first Class signed on the document in the front page, and put the date as 4.6.1992.
Kharshiing also alleged that important fact to be noted is that Mahanta prepared the declaration deed and got it registered.
“When an FIR was filed against the land owners Unikey Kharkongor and Nearly Kharkongor, Mahanta despite being the legal Counsel for MUDA, helped them by moving anticipatory bail for them and regularizing the bail,” Kharshiing alleged.
The reply to RTI from the Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) also reveals that the second page of the land document was incomplete. “With this revelation, we filed an FIR in 2012 and wrote to the Secretary, MUDA, informing him and seeking to verify the documents. As a State Government authority, the Secretary should have taken seriously the information wherein Government stands to lose, as it is clear that any transaction based on forged documents, becomes null and void as per law. Our complaints were, however, ignored,” Kharshiing said.
The CSWO president claimed that she made some suggestion to the Deputy Commissioner, who paid no heed, but instead helped in providing assistance for the demolition and forceful eviction of the rightful owners.
Kharshiing urged the Governor to call for records from the investigating officer of the case and the individual land documents of those land owners who executed the deal for 2500 acres and wanted the Governor to advise the Government to remove the concerned officials till a fair investigation is completed.