MODUS OPERANDI OF THE LAND MAFIA TO GRAB THE PUBLIC PROPERTY

            Keeping in view all these facts, relating to the criminal activities of the Land Mafia, in the year of 2003, I filed the aforesaid Writ Petition running into 338 Pages, which also included the supporting prima facie evidences against the Nexus between the powerful politician of the country Sri Jyoti Basu and the Land Mafia.

            The modus operandi of the Land Mafia was to grab first the individual’s as well as public property by any hook or crook and then after that put the cover of legality. In support to my above mentioned contentions regarding his modus operandi, in short, I must tell that in or about 1984 or so he had encroached upon a very valuable plot of Railway Land measuring about 18,000/25,000 Sqr. Ft., lying and situated in Mouza Sahapur, P.S. Behala, Kolkata-38. which was grabbed, by encroaching upon and mixing it with his own adjacent land. Thereafter, he started construction of his two multistoried buildings, partly at his own land and partly at the aforesaid encroached Railway Land. Subsequently he understood that in future, use of such encroached Railway Land for construction, may cause some trouble to him. As such he hatched a plot in connivance with the Senior Railway Officials, including the then Chief Engineer of the Eastern Railway, Mr. S. N. Agarwal and played a game to show that he is going to return the entire encroached Railway Land to Railways as a compromise to have a common passage between his land and the James Long Sarani. Accordingly a Registered Agreement was got executed between the Companies of Land Mafia and the Railways.

            Now, I have  received certified copies of all the related documents from the Eastern Railway (except a very few) under RTI Act, after filing about 70 applications. The aforesaid documents reveal that the Land Mafia returned to Railways only a portion of 9391 (7226 + 2165) Square Feet, out of the aforesaid entire Railway Land, that was encroached upon.  

            Again, even this was just a mockery and akin to throwing the dust in eyes of the Railways, since the so-called returned land was again used ostensibly for the beautification of the project which only pertained to the Land Mafia, and that too only at the cost of the tax-payer, as the cost was born by the Railways, in the name of development of the Garden for the Railways and thus even maintenance of the same was also to be done by the Railways.  Besides, the aforesaid 9,391 Sqr. Ft., an area of about 1,372 sq. ft., was also used in the name of an alleged Common passage. The aforesaid agreement was completely silent on the rest part of the encroached land, and the information supplied by the CPIO also did no where justify it. Finally the matter reached to CIC, and the Hon'ble Information Commissioner Dr. O. P.  Kejriwal found it to be a fit case to refer it as a apparent matter of corruption, and hence directed the Eastern Railway to conduct a Survey of the respective Plot No. 218 to find out the portion of the railway property still under encroachment. The Railways after conducting the Survey, sent the survey Map, which contained certain loopholes too.

            In the Survey Map it is admitted that about 4,841 Square Feet Railway land is still under encroachment, which was used for the construction of the front portions of the two buildings. One part of the Survey Map sent by the PIO of Eastern Railway, is published at page No. 25. However, in collusion of the connivance between the Land Mafia and the Railway Officials, the said Survey Map is also not giving a true picture of the encroached Railway Land. The true picture of the tentative encroached Railway Land is shown in another Map, which has been prepared on the basis of a part of the Revenue Survey Map published by the Government of West Bengal. For this very reason the Land Mafia has also become an instrument to get the various Information, sought by me from the different Public Authorities to withheld. 

Most surprising fact is this that Eastern Railway and its all personnel responsible to check this serious matter of corruption are still trying to justify the role of the then Railway Officials entered in an illegal agreement executed just to cover up the use of the Railway Land in the construction of Buildings by the Land Mafia.

Considering the criminal misconduct on the part of the then respective Public Servants from the Eastern Railway I served an Legal Notice under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code asking thereby to take appropriate action for initiation of the criminal proceedings against all those public servants, involved in the execution of the aforesaid illegal agreement, which was executed under connivance and further initiative for declaration of the aforesaid Registered Agreement as Illegal and also to take recovery of the encroached Railway Land. But instead of taking any action,  in response to my aforesaid Notice, I received Memo Letter No. W(1)Misc./Right to Information Act, 2005, dated 13th July, 2007 from Eastern Railway under signature of Mr. G. Khariwal, Chief General Engineer, from the Office of the Principal Chief  Engineer, Eastern Railways, (hereinafter referred to him as Mr. G. Khariwal) who has raised some unwarranted question relating to validity of my aforesaid Notice dated 14th June, 2007, and raised the question that how I get various documents from the Eastern Railway under Right to Information Act, 2005. This was a surprising exposure that immediately after sending the said letter Mr. G. Khariwal was transferred to South-Western Railway, giving serious doubts about connection between the aforesaid reply and his aforesaid Transfer.

            Therefore, I amended my aforesaid Notice considering involvement of Mr. G. Khariwal to protect the vested interest of the land mafia. Now, I have received another letter from the Chief Vigilance Officer from the office of the General manager/Vigilance Eastern Railway. I don’t know this is with the real purpose to book the culprit or to hangover the matter under the cover of “matter is under investigation.”, because I have seen that under this cover Investigators can protect the wrong doers for the years. There is need to be fix a period for any investigation. Otherwise this path of ‘under investigation’ is also another path of serious corruption.