Delhi Assembly panel summons Chief Secretary in land transfer case

The Petitions Committee of Delhi Assembly has summoned Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar regarding a complaint related to land issues. The committee has also requested the chief secretary to provide answers to specific questions before June 21.

The complaint received by the Petitions Committee involved IAS officer Ashish More, who was recently removed from his position as secretary (services) upon the order of Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.

Last year, the government suspended five sub-divisional magistrates and one additional district magistrate due to their involvement in the transfer of a piece of land in Jhangola village, located in north Delhi.

The complaint alleged that Ashish More utilized a similar method to transfer land in the same village, resulting in the illegal transfer of government-owned evacuee property and the granting of ‘bhumidari’ rights to individuals.

The complaint further claimed that More, as the district magistrate of north Delhi, was responsible for deciding appeals related to these “illegal land transfers.”

Initially, More and divisional commissioner Ashwani Kumar were asked to appear before the committee on June 7 but failed to do so. However, they appeared on June 14 and reportedly acknowledged that the land in question was evacuee property.

Considering the seriousness of the matter, the panel has now requested additional details related to the issue to be provided by June 21. (With inputs from PTI)