(1.) Heard counsel for both the sides and perused the records.
(2.) Petitioner - Jasminder Singh Sadhrao was Consolidation Officer, Mohali. The allegation is that an Advocate applied to the petitioner for allotment of certain lands in favour of Ajit Singh and others. Along with the said application, he is alleged to have attached a copy of the order of the Director of Consolidation (Annexure P-l) dated 23.9.1996 remanding the case back to the consolidation Officer with certain directions, including the one to partition and distribute the lands among the right holders of the village, ignoring the mutation entered in favour of the Gram Panchayat. The petitioner, who was the consolidation Officer, passed an order dated 4.9.1998 allotting the lands to several persons. Therefore, the Gram Panchayat concerned filed Civil Writ Petition No. 6185 of 1999 challenging the said order dated 23.9 1996 allegedly passed by the Director as well as the order dated 4.9.1988 passed by the petitioner allotting the lands. Similarly, Ajit Singh had others to whom the lands have been allotted also filed Civil Writ Petition No. 6627 of 1999 against the Gram Panchayat, and the High Court is stated to have stayed the dispossession of the lands from those persons. Both the writ petitions are said to be pending.
(3.) But, Balwant Kaur Sarpanch of the concerned Gram Panchayat lodged a complaint and the Additional Director of Consolidation, who held the enquiry has submitted his report that the allotment of the lands belonging to the Gram Panchayat to 25 persons named in the enquiry report is illegal, and that some of them were not owners at the time of the consolidation. The enquiry officer also reported that the lands were allotted to some persons without even verifying as to whether they had purchased the share in the shamilat land or not. The further allegation is that though the petitioner was not competent to sanction mutation, he had also sanctioned mutation, against the instructions of the Government. It is further alleged that Ranjit Singh has been impersonating as the Sarpanch in spite of the fact that a new Sarpanch had taken over, and that revenue patwari Tarsem Singh had also shown interest in sanctioning the mutation. The Enquiry report prima facie established conspiracy between the Consolidation Officer, Ranjit Singh Sarpanch and others to defraud the Gram Panchayat and the other owners of the land. The Enquiry Officer also reported that the order dated 23.9.1996 purported to have been passed by Mr. Sant Ram Garg, Director Consolidation of Holdings is a forged order manufactured after the conspiracy between them. On these allegations, the F.I.R. in question has been registered at Police Station Mohali u/s 419, 420, 465, 467, 471, 120-B I.P.C.