BANGALORE: The Joint Legislature Committee formed to look into encroachment of government land has identified 174 officials of the Revenue Department who allegedly colluded with land-grabbers in the encroachment of 18,447 acres in and around Bangalore.

Committee chairman A.T. Ramaswamy told presspersons here on Thursday that the panel had recommended that criminal cases be filed against the officials identified, eight of whom had retired. But the Revenue Department had not initiated action so far. Filing criminal cases would serve as a deterrent to others.

Among the174 officials held responsible for facilitating encroachment, there were four deputy tahsildars, 69 revenue inspectors and 101 village accountants .

He said the police had not taken action on 237 complaints filed by the Revenue Department against encroachers. Of the 363 complaints lodged against 943 land-grabbers, the police had filed first information reports (FIR) only in 132 cases.

Mr. Ramaswamy said 25,713 people had encroached upon land in Bangalore City and Urban districts. The interim report of the committee submitted to the legislature recently had recommended legal action under sections 197, 198 and 464 of the Indian Penal Code against government or public servants for offences such as creating false documents or destruction of official records.

He said it was difficult to encroach upon land without the support of Revenue Department officials. An inquiry should be conducted to identify officials who collude with the real-estate mafia. Comprehensive legislation, covering all departments, was required to recover the encroached land, he said.

Government land in Bangalore City and Urban districts totals 1,18,668 acres, of which 1,02,623 acres has been surveyed. As many as 506 cases of disputes over ownership are pending before various courts, including 92 in the Karnataka High Court.

469 cases registered

The police have registered 469 cases against 943 persons, of whom 102 have been arrested. A meeting of top officials of the Home and Revenue departments and the City Police Commissioner was convened recently to direct the police to file FIRs in the remaining cases. "I have also written to Home Minister M.P. Prakash and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on the inaction in filing cases against land-grabbers," Mr. Ramaswamy said.

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