Badnawar (Madhya Pradesh): Making a mockery of Section 165 of Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, a case of agricultural land belonging to Mogya caste being transferred to a resident of Chhattisgarh who is a non-tribal by altering land records has come to light from Kherwas block.
The villagers claimed that the entire scam is running under the nose of tehsildar Ajmer Singh Gour and demanded an investigation into the matter.
According to the law, no non-tribal can buy tribal land as Section 165 (6) of the MP Land Revenue Code, 1959, is in effect here in the district. Under this Code, no person who is not a tribal will be allowed to acquire land without the permission of a revenue officer, not below the rank of collector. In case such a transfer takes place, the reasons have to be recorded in writing.
Meanwhile, ignoring the norms, tehsildar Goud has illegally registered 0.644 hectares of agricultural land of farmer Ghanshyam, son of Mangilal Mogya on survey number 104/1 and 104/2 in the name of a person belonging to the general category.
According to information, in 2013, this land was mortgaged with the Bank of India here in Badnawar branch for a loan of Rs 2.42 lakh. On January 6, 2022, the land was freed of the mortgage.
Later, one Shahid Ahmed, son of Sajjad Ahmed, a resident of Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon district, Chhattisgarh wanted to buy this land. Therefore, to facilitate this sale Badnawar tehsildar Ajmer Singh Gaur allegedly changed the name of the caste from Mogya to Moghiya in the records. Since Moghiya caste in Badnawar comes under the SC category, thus now the tehsildar could transfer the land rights in a routine manner.
Gaur passed the order in Revenue Case No 1898/A 06/2021-22 dated January 19 this year and transferred this 0.644 hectare of land in the name of ABC Export India Limited on behalf of Shahid Ahmed.
After the incident, many villagers here raised questions over how can the caste be changed and how a person sitting on a responsible post can change the identity of a person (Mogya to Moghia) to fulfil his own interests keeping all rules aside.
Villagers claimed that this is not the only case reported in Kherwas village, but in the past too, officials have attempted to acquire land belonging to the people of Mogya caste by changing their caste to Moghia in official records and demanded that an investigation of such serious irregularities must be done.
Collector refused to approve change of caste
According to the information received from sources, Dhar district collector Dr Pankaj Jain had also clearly refused the tehsildar that he would not approve of any such change. Still, this illegal act was accomplished making it a serious matter that needs a thorough probe.
Meanwhile, repeated attempts to contact district collector Dr Jain failed. When contacted, Badnawar sub-divisional magistrate Virendra Katare told that Mogya caste does not come under ST in our area and naturally so we are not issuing them a certificate in the name of ST. He reiterated that this is in accordance with the rules of the state government.
Patwaris transferred
Earlier, tehsildar Gaur allegedly pressurised Nitish Maltare, the patwari posted in Kherwas village to do his bidding. But on his refusal, Gaur shifted him to another place and posted Bhagwat Patel as a new Patwari in his place. When he too refused to comply with Gaur's orders he too was also removed and Manisha Kannauj was posted in his place.
