Rawalpindi-Scores of land owners staged protest demonstration outside commissioner Rawalpindi office on Monday against officers of the Land Revenue Department for allegedly taking bribes for transferring the land.
The protestors were holding placards in their hands and bellowing slogans against office-bearers of the city district government for not taking action against the land revenue officer, Naib Tehsildar Malik Javed.
“Sack the corrupt naib tehsildar”, “Corrupt mafia is not acceptable”, “MNA Chaudhry Nisar please take action against Malik Javed” were the slogans mentioned on placards held by some protestors.
According to details, a large number of locals of the areas including Dhok Gujran, Lakho, Kak, Narala, Sheikh Pur, Siham, Dhok Mustaqeem, Officer Colony, Allahabad and Chuhur Chopal gathered outside the commissioner’s office and staged a protest demonstration against Naib Tehsidlar Malik Javed for allegedly taking bribes for solving their land sale and purchase issues.
They chanted slogans against the land revenue officer and stressed the commissioner to initiate legal action against him.
Chaudhry Suhail Akhter, a landlord of Dhok Gujran, told The Nation that the locals had moved an application to the Chief Minister Punjab against Malik Javed. He said that the CM had referred the application to Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner for taking legal action against the corrupt land revenue officer but no action was being taken against him.
“We had approached PML-N MNA and MPA Malik Abrar Ahmed and Malik Iftikhar Ahmad and had lodged complaints that Malik Javed along with other patwaris was taking bribes from land owners even for solving their legal and genuine issues,” said Nizakat Mehmood, another local.
He said that Malik Javed had launched a looting spree in his circle and was minting money from each and every land owner for issuance of land-related documents.
Chaudhry Javed Akhter and Chaudhry Gulzar Tahir alleged that deputy commissioner Rawalpindi had appointed Malik Javed as acting naib tehsildar in their areas despite knowing that he was a corrupt man. “We had lodged several complaints with the DC to remove him from his post but he simply rejected our complaints,” they said.
Many other protestors said that the revenue department had been suffering huge loss because of the corrupt land revenue officer. “Many patwaris are also involved in illegal acts along with Malik Javed”, they said, adding that the CM should take action against DC Rawalpindi for not taking action against Malik Javed.
Some six land owners submitted oaths to commissioner regarding corruption of Malik Javed, the naib tehsildar.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi Tariq Salam Marwat, however, when contacted for his comments, vowed that he would hold inquiry into allegations levelled against the naib tehsildar.
He said that strict departmental action would be taken against the accused if he found guilty.
