Latha, Massavi of villages Sunjwan & Chowadhi found missing
Taking strong cognizance of missing of vital public documents of the revenue villages Sunjwan and Chowadhi in Tehsil Bahu; the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Raghav Langer has directed Sub Divisional Magistrate, Jammu South for registering FIR against the accused in concerned police station of the jurisdiction.
The Div Com had constituted teams in June 2021 for random verification, ETS survey of encroachment of state/ Kahcharai/ Forest lands in the said Revenue villages with instructions for the reconciliation of Revenue records. The committee in its findings brought to the notice of Divisional Commissioner that Latha and Massavi (revenue maps) of village Chowadhi and Sunjwan, in tehsil Bahu, have been missing and not available with the field revenue officials.
It has been learnt from the sources that the Div Com office had sought an explanation from the concerned tehsildar as to how Fard-i-Intikhabs for the said revenue villages were being issued and mutations being attested in the absence of Latha and Massavi; but no satisfactory reply could be provided. Further the sources tell that a demarcation committee constituted in WP(C) titled Suman Bansal vs UT of J&K & Ors, which was constituted by the Div Com office in April 2021; recently submitted its preliminary report to the office of Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
The said committee brought out glaring revelations that the Aks Latha/ Massavi of village Sunjwan and Chowadhi are missing from the General Record Room, Gol Gujral Jammu as well. Alongwith above vital maps even the Book of Record of Rights (Missal-i-Haqiyat) is also missing from the Record Room and specific pages of the field book were also found missing. A revenue expert commented that this seems to be a well planned strategy as Latha/ Massavi/ RoR are always prepared in two sets- with one complete set kept in safe custody in General Record Room and the other set is held by Halqa Patwari. Sources said that the Divisional Commissioner has few days back directed Sub Divisional Magistrate Jammu South, under whose jurisdiction the above mentioned documents have been found missing, to immediately lodge FIR under the relevant provisions of IPC and other regulations so that an investigation can be immediately initiated and the accused can be booked under law.
It is pertinent to mention that as per official procedures, a proper charge report is made whenever public documents are handed/taken over between the transferee and his reliever and as such the trail can be clearly established. It has also been learnt that the Divisional head of the Revenue Administration is specially irked at the fact as to why a First Information Report was not yet lodged vis-à-vis this serious matter of missing of vital revenue records and as to how the concerned Revenue offices were functioning till date in the absence of such documents.
