CIAA suspects connivance of govt officials

Biratnagar, May 16:

Public land in Biratnagar and nearby areas are being registered in individuals’ names. Agencies concerned have not been able to stop these illegal acts.

Around 13 ropani of public land in Kanchanbari (plot number 112) has been registered in the Morang District Land Revenue Office (DLRO) in the name of one Sita Devi Khadka. Some 35 squatters’ families have been living in the public land called “Bari” for 24 years.

The squatters don’t know who Sita Devi is. The land was registered in Sita Devi’s name in 1987 and the land ownership certificate bears the signature of a government official, Megh Nath Kafle.

Interestingly, Kafle was not posted in Biratnagar then. Kafle was posted in Biratnagar from 1989 till 1991 as an “acting regional settlement administrator”.

Three kattha of land in Khanikhola of Kanchanbari (3 ka, plot number 47) was sold by one Januka Devi Dulal in 1999. Squatters are occupying this land. A squatter Chhetu Lal Rajbanshi said: “We don’t know who Januka Devi is.”

In Tankisinawari, one bigha and nine kattha of public land has been registered in the name of Narad Prasad Gautam and Dhana Devi Dahal while one bigha and seven kattha of public land has been registered in Narad Khatiwada’s name in Bansbari.

Of the 11 kattha of land of the local Arunodaya Secondary School, 10 kattha has been registered in the names of Chitra Kala Parajuli, Dhana Devi Dahal and Dambar Bahadur Limbu.

The land ownership certificates are all fake and they bear the signature of the same Megh Nath Kafle.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has been investigating the registration of public land in individuals’ names since 2002.

The CIAA has been investigating some 35 fake land ownership certificates.

Since 2002, three teams of the CIAA have visited Biratnagar to probe the matter.

According to a source at the CIAA, land mafia is registering hundreds of bigha of public land in individuals’ names. Even public chowks, roads, schools and cemeteries are being registered in this manner, the source said. Records at DLRO confirm this.

Bayarban’s former pradhan pancha (a former elected village chief) Pushpa Bahadur Chauhan has registered public land in Bayarban in his family’s name.

One Narayan Chaudhari, who was the chief of a survey team in 2002, registered public land in his relatives’ name when a decision was made to distribute some 3,400 bigha of land in Morang to squatters.

The CIAA even sent a letter to the ministry recommending action against Chaudhari.

An officer at the CIAA said that the registration of public land in individuals’ names was not possible without the connivance of employees in the DLRO and the survey department.

The illegal activity has been going on since 2001-02. The Squatters’ Problem Solution Commission formed at that time had also registered public land in the names of non-squatters. DLRO chief Shyam Dahal said until the CIAA completes its investigation, the office cannot initiate any action against individuals using public land.

The price of one kattha of land in Kanchanbari area is Rs 2.5 lakh, Dahal said. The land in the area, however, is being sold for up to Rs six lakh, locals said.